3ffrnm  tlj?  ICtbrarg  of 
ProfpfiHor  i?njamtn  llmkutrftg*  Jiarftclfc 
Ipqufattjpb  bg  Ijtm  tn 
%  IGtbrarg  nf 
Jlrinreton  (tliwjltigtral  §>pmittarg 

8731    -C55.8  G39 
I   biles,   Chauncey,  1813-1893. 
Why  I  am  a  New  Churchman 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/whyiamnewchurchmOOgile 


WHY  I  AM  A  NEW  CHURCHMAN. 


BY  THE 

REV.  CHAUNCEY  felLES, 

AUTHOR  OF  "MAN  AS  A  SPIRITUAL   BEING,"  "THE  INCARNATION  AND  ATONE- 
MENT," 11  HEAVENLY  BLESSEDNESS,"   11  THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  THE 
LORI>,"  "  PERFECT  PRAYER,"  "THE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN," 
ETC.,  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
AMERICAN  NEW  CHURCH  TRACT  AND  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 
Twenty-Second  and  Chestnut  Streets. 

1890. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  members  of  the  New  Church  are  often 
asked  to  give  the  reasons  for  their  faith.  Why 
are  you  a  New  Churchman  ?  What  is  your  be- 
lief? How  do  your  doctrines  differ  from  those 
of  other  churches  ?  Do  you  believe  in  the  Bible 
as  the  Word  of  God?  In  the  Divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  You  take  the  writings  of  Swedenborg 
instead  of  the  Bible,  do  you  not?  These  and 
many  other  questions  of  a  similar  character, 
showing  entire  ignorance  or  a  total  misconcep- 
tion of  the  position  and  principles  of  the  New 
Church,  are  often  asked.  When  the  interest  is 
more  than  an  idle  curiosity,  a  concise  statement 
of  our  doctrines  and  the  reasons  for  accepting 
them  are  requested. 

This  little  work  has  been  written  in  answer  to 
this  demand.  The  writer  has  given  it  a  some- 
what personal  form,  though  not  from  any  per- 
sonal motives,  in  the  hope  that  it  might  be  more 

iii 


INTRODUCTION. 


interesting  than  a  dry  doctrinal  statement.  He 
has  endeavored  to  present  the  motives  which  led 
him  from  the  common  faith  of  the  orthodox 
churches,  and  the  reasons  that  have  had  an  irre- 
sistible influence  in  inducing  him  to  accept  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church. 

He  has  touched  only  the  most  important  sub- 
jects, and  has  been  compelled  to  treat  them  in 
the  briefest  manner,  to  keep  the  work  within  the 
smallest  limits  compatible  with  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  written.  He  has  been  able,  in 
many  instances,  to  do  but  little  more  than  give 
a  concise  statement  of  a  doctrine,  and  a  few 
hints  of  the  reasons  which  confirm  it,  when  a 
thousand  particulars  could  have  been  adduced 
which  throw  light  upon  it  and  show  its  relations 
to  other  well-known  principles,  making  of  the 
whole  a  coherent  and  harmonious  system. 

The  book  is  more  a  suggestion  than  a  complete 
treatise;  but  a  suggestion,  it  is  hoped,  that  points 
to  the  writings  of  the  New  Church,  and  to  the 
"Word  and  the  works  of  the  Lord,  in  which  every 
principle,  doctrine,  and  fact  is  clearly  revealed. 
The  author  has  tried  to  keep  within  the  lines 
of  general  truths  and  leave  them  to  testify  in 


INTRODUCTION. 


V 


their  own  behalf,  rather  than  to  appeal  to  the 
opinions  of  men,  believing  that  it  is  only  in  its 
own  light  that  the  truth  can  he  clearly  seen. 
"  In  Thy  light  shall  we  see  light." 

It  is  with  the  hope  that  this  little  treatise  may 
give  some  help  in  answering  questions  and 
correcting  misconceptions  concerning  the  New 
Church  and  removing  groundless  prejudices 
against  it,  that  it  has  been  written.  It  may  also 
be  useful  in  encouraging  those  who  are  becom- 
ing interested  in  the  new  truths  to  persevere  in 
the  study  of  them,  with  the  assurance  that  the 
more  they  know  of  them  the  more  confirmed 
they  will  become  in  the  certainty  that  they  are 
the  laws  of  spiritual  life. 

It'  these  hopes  of  service  are  realized,  the 
friends  of  the  New  Church  can  extend  the  use 
of  the  book  by  keeping  copies  of  it  to  hand 
to  those  who  are  inquiring  with  any  interest 
concerning  the  truths  of  the  new  faith. 

With  these  suggestions  the  little  book  is  com- 
mended to  the  members  of  the  New  Church, 
and  to  all  who  desire  to  gain  a  clear  and  certain 
knowledge  of  the  Lord,  of  their  own  spiritual 
nature,  and  of  the  laws  of  spiritual  life  by  which 


vi 


INTRODUCTION.. 


alone  they  can  attain  their  highest  and  most  sub- 
stantial good.  With  the  sincere  prayer  that  the 
truths  set  forth  in  the  reasons,  "  Why  I  am  a 
New  Churchman,"  may  be  of  as  much  service  to 
others  as  they  have  been  to  the  author,  he  com- 
mends the  little  book  to  all  who  are  seeking  for 
light  and  rest. 


WHY  I  AM  A  NEW  CHURCHMAN. 


A  NEW  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DOCTRINES  OF  CHRISTI- 
ANITY DEMANDED. 

There  has  never  been  a  time  in  the  history 
of  Christianity  when  there  was  so  loud  a  call  for 
a  clear  and  positive  statement  of  the  essential 
principles  of  religion  as  the  present.  It  is  the 
demand  of  a  deep-felt  and  honest  want.  It 
does  not  originate  in  hostility  to  a  pure,  spiritual 
Christianity.  It  is  a  hunger  and  thirst  of  the 
soul  "for  hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord;"  for 
doctrines  derived  from  the  whole  of  Sacred 
Scripture,  doctrines  which  are  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  natural  laws,  satisfactory  to  enlight- 
ened reason,  and  conducive  to  the  harmonious 
and  continuous  development  of  man's  spiritual 
faculties  and  the  attainment  of  his  highest 
natural  and  spiritual  good.  It  is  a  desire  for  a 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  man's  spiritual  nature 
and  destiny  that  the  doctrines  of  religion  as 

7 


8     A  NEW  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DOCTRINES 


generally  taught  do  not  and  cannot  Batisfy.  It 
is  not  limited  to  a  few  exceptional  cases.  It 
pervades  the  churches  and  the  world,  the  clergy 
as  well  as  the  laity.  It  is  in  the  air.  It  is  a 
presence  and  power  moving  the  hearts  and  the 
intellects  of  men  and  women  in  all  conditions 
of  life. 

NEW  TESTS  OP  DOCTRINE  AND  INSPIRATION. 

The  first  effect  of  such  a  power  must  he  a 
disturbance  of  old  and  cherished  beliefs.  It 
calls  them  up  for  a  rehearing,  and  demands  a 
rational  answer  to  new  questions  and  the  means 
of  satisfying  new  wants.  There  is  abundant 
evidence  that  some  new  and  pervading  power 
is  operating  upon  the  minds  of  the  Christian 
world.  Every  doctrine  of  Christianity  is  sub- 
jected to  the  keenest  scrutiny.  The  vast  re- 
sources of  historical  and  scientific  knowledge 
are  brought  to  bear  upon  it  by  minds  thor- 
oughly equipped  with  every  weapon  of  offence 
and  defence  and  skilled  in  all  the  arts  of  criti- 
cism and  dialectics.  The  Sacred  Scriptures,  the 
source  of  Christian  doctrine,  have  been  exam- 
ined in  the  light  of  history  and  science,  phi- 


OF  CHRISTIANITY  DEMANDED. 


9 


losophy,  and  reason,  with  results  that,  to  say  the 
least,  have  greatly  modified  the  opinions  con- 
cerning their  Divine  authenticity  and  the  abso- 
lute truth  of  the  doctrines  derived  from  them. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  NEW  KNOWLEDGE. 

The  inevitable  result  lias  been  the  weakening 
of  confidence  in  the  complete  and  final  truth  of 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity  as  they  have  been 
taught  and  generally  accepted.  There  is  a 
prevalent  feeling  in  the  churches  of  every  name, 
and  especially  in  those  which  contain  the  great- 
est number  of  intelligent  people,  that  the  doc- 
trines embodied  in  the  creeds  of  Christendom 
do  not  meet  the  wants  of  the  present  time. 
They  do  not  remove  honest  doubts;  they  do  not 
give  the  people  who  accept  them  strength  to 
bear  the  burdens  of  labor  and  sorrow,  and  light 
to  guide  them  in  the  intricate  and  perplexing 
paths  of  duty;  and  they  fail  to  provide  them 
with  the  means  of  continual  advancement  into 
new  knowledge  concerning  their  most  important 
interests.  They  are  not  taught  in  the  distinct 
affirmative  and  emphatic  manner  they  formerly 
were.    They  are  not  taught  so  much  as  the 


10  A  NEW  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DOCTRINES 


words  of  the  Lord  as  human  opinions,  and, 
in  many  cases,  as  opinions  ahout  which  the 
teachers  themselves  have  grave  douhts.  The 
prophets  speak  in  a  weak  and  uncertain  voice, 
and  there  is  a  growing  disposition  in  the  people 
to  question  the  truth  of  their  teachings.  The 
shepherds  give  an  uncertain  call ;  the  people  are 
bewildered  and  hesitate  to  follow  them. 

THE  REVISION  OF  CREEDS  NO  REMEDY. 

Some  doctrines  have  become  obsolete,  or  are 
so  far  out  of  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  age 
that  they  are  allowed  to  lie  dormant.  Others 
are  supposed  to  need  important  modifications.  In 
answer  to  this  demand  theologians  are  discussing 
the  necessity  of  revising  their  creeds  and  forms 
of  worship  to  adapt  them  to  the  wants  of  the 
growing  intelligence  of  the  people.  But  it  is 
justly  feared  by  many  that  such  a  movement 
will  be  attended  with  extreme  danger  to  the 
whole  system  of  doctrine ;  that  when  a  beginning 
is  made  no  one  can  tell  where  it  will  end.  The 
most  fearless  propose  only  some  modification  in 
the  terms  of  expression ;  a  softening  of  the  tone, 
keeping  some  of  the  hardest  points  in  abeyance 


OF  CHRISTIANITY  DEMANDED. 


1  1 


and  bringing  those  which  are  more  in  accordance 
with  the  humane  and  rational  spirit  of  the  times 
into  greater  prominence.  ~No  one  proposes  a 
now  garment,  hut  only  some  patches  to  mend 
the  rents  or  conceal  the  defects  of  the  old.  But 
the  new  wine  of  spiritual  truth,  which  is  fer- 
menting in  so  many  minds,  creating  discontent 
with  the  old,  and  awakening  an  irrepressible 
desire  for  larger  and  clearer  knowledge  of  the 
Lord,  the  principles  of  |iis  government,  and  the 
methods  of  accomplishing  His  purposes,  cannot 
be  preserved  in  the  old  bottles.  Every  attempt 
to  do  it  will  fail.  Those  who  expect  any  per- 
manent relief  from  such  partial  and  temporary 
means  will  be  disappointed. 

THE  ORIGIN  AND  DIRECTION  OP  THIS  MOVEMENT. 

The  religious  world  is  in  a  transition  state. 
The  movement  is  towards  a  new  and  more  cen- 
tral position  from  winch  to  regard  all  questions 
relating  to  man's  spiritual  nature  and- destiny, 
towards  a  new  and  a  distinctly  higher  and  clearer 
knowledge  of  God,  of  man,  of  their  relations  to 
each  other;  of  the  spiritual  world  and  the  means 
by  which  man  is  to  attain  supreme  happiness, 


12  A  NEW  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DOCTRINES 


the  end  for  which  lie  was  created.  The  power 
that  is  brooding  over  the  hearts  and  intellects 
of  the  Christian  world,  awakening  them  to  new 
life  and  moving  them  to  new  activity,  is  not 
a  local,  superficial,  and  temporary  influence.  It 
has  its  origin  in  the  Lord,  and  springs  up  from 
the  inmost  deeps  of  man's  nature.  It  is  the 
dawning  of  a  new  day  of  spiritual  knowledge 
and  life.  It  is  a  new  coming  of  the  Lord  in  the 
power  and  glory  of  new  truth  to  fulfil  His  prom- 
ises, to  perform  His  purposes  of  love  to  men 
and  answer  the  prayer  He  taught  His  people  to 
offer  that  "  His  kingdom  may  come  and  His  w  ill 
be  done  on  the  earth  as  it  is  in  the  heavens." 

It  is  with  the  purpose  and  hope  of  contrib- 
uting my  mite  to  allay  the  fears  of  those  who 
can  see  nothing  in  the  decay  of  old  beliefs,  and 
the  strenuous  demands  for  a  rational  knowledge 
of  spiritual  truth,  but  danger  to  religion  and  all 
that  is  good  and  true  in  human  life,  and  of 
showing  in  clear  light  to  those  who  are  famish- 
ing with  hunger  for  the  bread  which  gives  life  and 
satisfies  ever)'  want  of  the  affections,  and  to  those 
fainting  with  thirst  for  the  living  water  which 
the  Lord  freely  offers  to  all,  where  they  can  find 


OF  CHRISTIANITY  DEMANDED.  13 


the  good  and  the  truth  that  will  satisfy  all  their 
wants,  and  how  they  can  gain  new  life  for  their 
affections  and  new  light  for  the  illumination  of 
their  understandings, — it  is  with  this  hope  and 
purpose  that  I  offer  the  following  reasons — 

WHY  I  AM  A  NEW  CHURCHMAN. 

Having  passed  through  the  most  important 
phases  of  belief  and  unbelief,  in  the  transition 
from  the  old  and  common  belief  of  the  Chris- 
tian world  to  an  entirely  new  and  distinct  faith 
upon  all  questions  relating  to  man's  spiritual 
nature  and  relations  to  the  Lord, — a  faith  which 
is  orthodox,  evangelical,  and  catholic  in  the  strict- 
est and  largest  meaning  of  the  terms,  and  which 
satisfies  all  the  wants  of  my  reason,  understand- 
ing, and  affections ;  in  a  word,  all  the  wants 
of  my  spiritual  nature, — it  seemed  to  me  that 
a  plain  statement  of  the  doctrines  which  I  now 
hold  without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  and  with 
every  faculty  of  my  mind,  and  my  reasons  for 
accepting  them  as  the  guide  of  my  life  and  the 
basis  of  my  hopes  of  eternal  happiness,  might 
be  of  service  to  others;  of  warning  if,  in  their 
judgment,  I  have  gone  dangerously  astray ;  of 
2 


14    NEGATIVE  GROUNDS  FOR  CHANGE  OF  FAITH. 


encouragement,  aid,  and  hope  in  attaining  the 
same  or  greater  light  and  deeper  rest,  if  they 
are  found  to  accord  with  the  Word  of  the  Lord, 
with  enlightened  reason,  and  to  be  helpful  to  a 
truer  and  purer  life. 

„  THE   FIRST  STEP. 

The  question  why  I  am  a  New  Churchman 
has  a  negative  as  well  as  a  positive  aspect.  A 
rational  answer  requires  the  cause  which  im- 
pelled me  to  give  up  the  prevalent  faith  of  what 
is  claimed  to  he  evangelical  Christianity  and 
seek  for  something  else.  The  reasons  can  be 
stated  in  a  few  words.  I  could  not  believe  the 
doctrine  that  was  commonly  held  and  taught 
concerning  the  nature  of  heaven  and  hell,  and 
the  purely  arbitrary  manner  in  which  the  right- 
eous and  wicked  were  separated  and  adjudged, 
the  one  to  eternal  happiness,  the  other  to  eternal 
misery.  I  could  not  believe  that  the  happiness 
of  heaven  consisted  in  eternal  worship  or  that 
the  torments  of  hell  were  caused  by  the  stings 
of  remorse  or  constant  burning.  It  seemed  to 
me  to  be  contrary  to  man's  nature  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  eternal  monotony  of  song,  and  impos- 


DESPAIR  OF  FINDING  THE  TRUTH.  15 


sible  for  a  spiritual  being  to  be  tormented  with 
material  fire,  or  for  a  being  whose  conscience 
was  scared  to  be  excruciated  with  the  pangs  of 
remorse.  I  could  not  believe  that  the  Lord 
would  ever  exclude  any  person  from  heaven 
who  desired  to  live  there,  or  that  a  corrupt  and 
wicked  man  could  find  his  happiness  in  the 
employment  of  the  heavenly  inhabitants.  The 
whole  system  seemed  to  me  to  be  contrary  to 
the  character  of  God  and  the  nature  of  man. 

THE    SECOND  STEP. 

Doubts  having  been  raised  about  the  truth 
of  one  doctrine,  they  led  to  the  examination 
of  other  doctrines  and  doubts  about  their  truth. 
I  did  not  doubt  because  I  desired  to  do  so.  On 
the  contrary,  I  clung  to  every  point  of  the  old 
faith  with  the  greatest  tenacity.  I  clung  like 
a  drowning  man  to  the  last  plank,  until  I  was 
torn  from  it,  or  it  failed  me  and  I  sunk  into 
the  depths  of  despair.  I  have  no  language  that 
is  adequate  to  express  the  darkness  and  horror 
and  agony  of  the  state  I  lived  in,  if  it  could  be 
called  living,  I'm'  years.  One  hope  alone  sus- 
tained me.    I  did  not  doubt  the  existence,  the 


16  JOY  AT  THE  DAWNING  LIGHT. 


wisdom  and  goodness  of  God.  It  was  as  im- 
possible for  me  to  do  that  as  it  was  to  believe 
the  representation  of  His  character  and  conduct 
towards  men  as  expressed  in  the  doctrines  of 
the  prevalent  churches.  While  I  had  an  un- 
doubted conviction  that  these  doctrines  were  not 
true,  I  had  no  hope  of  finding  any  others,  and  I 
settled  down  to  the  duties  and  necessities  of  life 
with  the  purpose  of  faithfully  doing  my  work 
and  awaiting  whatever  the  future  might  have  in 
store  for  me. 

A   RAY   OF  LIGHT. 

In  this  state  of  darkness  and  negation,  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church  found  me,  as  it 
seemed  to  me  then,  by  the  merest  accident,  but 
as  I  have  since  learned  to  know  and  believe,  by 
the  Providence  and  infinite  mercy  of  the  Lord. 
They  came  at  first  as  a  ray  of  light  which  ex- 
cited interest  and  attention.  Whether  it  was  a 
solitary  ray  that  gave  a  little  light  on  one  special 
subject  and  was  limited  to  that,  or  a  star  that 
was  to  usher  in  a  new  morning  and  a  new 
day,  I  did  not  know.  But  it  was  precious  in 
itself,  and  I  rejoiced  in  it.  It  exactly  satisfied 
one  of  my  wants,  and  awakened  sufficient  in- 


JOY  AT  THE  DAWNING  LIGHT. 


17 


terest  to  lead  me  to  follow  it.  It  was  a  grain 
of  gold  in  a  bed  of  sand,  which  suggested  a 
vein  of  precious  ore  in  the  mountains.  As  T 
followed  the  stream  in  whose  current  it  had 
been  borne  down  to  the  place  where  it  was 
deposited,  I  saw  increasing  evidence  that  it 
came  from  a  rich  and  inexhaustible  source. 
To  change  the  figure,  the  light  constantly  in- 
ci  eased.  It  was  not  a  solitary  ray.  It  came 
from  a  central  sun.  Special  truths  harmon- 
ized and  threw  light  upon  one  another.  Each 
one  was  seen  to  be  a  part  of  a  rational  and 
ordered  system.  Confidence  was  increased  and 
the  way  of  progress  become  assured.  Mysteries 
with  regard  to  man's  spiritual  nature,  which  had 
been  involved  in  impenetrable  darkness,  began 
to  give  up  their  secrete.  Problems  which  I  had 
supposed  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  human 
mind  to  solve,  began  to  yield  to  the  power  of  the 
new  truths  and  assume  rational  forms.  The 
darkness  that  brooded  over  the  chaos  of  con- 
flicting opinions  was  gradually  dispersed;  the 
illusions  and  fallacious  appearances  with  which 
the  natural  mind  invests  and  perverts  the  form 
and  nature  of  spiritual  truth  were  gradually 
b  2* 


18    SPIRITUAL  LAW,  THE  DIVINE  METHOD. 


dispelled.  I  could  truly  say,  "  "Whereas  I  was 
blind,  now  I  see." 

PRESENCE    AND    IMMUTABILITY    OF    SPIRITUAL  LAW. 

As  I  advanced  in  the  knowledge  of  the  new 
truths,  I  saw  that  the  laws  of  spiritual  life 
originate  in  the  Divine  nature ;  that  they  are  the 
methods  by  which  infinite  wisdom  carries  into 
effect  the  purposes  of  infinite  love,  and  conse- 
quently that  they  must  inhere  in  the  nature  of 
spiritual  substances  and  forces,  be  intimately 
related,  essentially  connected,  and  immutable  in 
their  nature  and  modes  of  action.  I  saw  that 
God  cannot  act  from  ignorance,  or  caprice, 
or  anger,  or  in  an  arbitrary  way  like  a  human 
autocrat.  So  I  began  to  look  for  order  in  the 
appearances  of  disorder,  for  an  unalterable, 
steady,  and  consistent  purpose  by  the  wisest 
means,  where  human  life  appears  upon  the  sur- 
face to  be  the  subject  of  chance  and  caprice.  I 
found  it,  at  first  imperfectly  and  faintly,  but 
with  constantly  increasing  clearness  and  assur- 
ance, until  now.it  is  as  impossible  for  me  to 
doubt  the  new  truths  as  it  was  formerly  to  be- 
lieve the  old.    They  are  demonstrated  as  clearly 


IN  WHAT  SENSE  CAN  A  TRUTH  BE  NEW?  19 


as  any  problem  in  mathematics.  They  differ 
from  natural  science  in  this :  While  they  carry 
the  same  conviction  of  certainty  that  they  are 
the  laws  of  the  Divine  order  on  the  spiritual 
plane  of  the  creation,  illustrating  and  confirm- 
ing light  constantly  increases  as  we  advance  in 
the  knowledge  of  them.  They  are  "  the  path 
of  the  just  which  shineth  more  and  more  unto 
the  perfect  day." 

This  is  my  own  experience  after  a  somewhat 
diligent  study  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church  for  more  than  forty  years.  I  believe  it 
is  the  experience  of  every  one  who  has  given 
them  a  patient  and  honest  examination.  This  is 
one  ceason  why  I  am  a  New  Churchman  and 
why  I  cannot  be  anything  else.  But  this  reason 
may  commend  itself  more  forcibly  to  others 
when  I  enter  into  particulars  and  set  forth  as 
clearly  and  concisely  as  I  am  able  what  these 
new  truths  are?  and  what  grounds  we  have  for 
calling  them  new. 

IN  AVHAT  SENSE  ARE  THEY  NEW  ? 

It  seems  to  be  somewhat  important  to  answer 
this  question  before  entering  upon  an  exposition 


20      IN  WHAT  SENSE  CAN  A  TRUTH  BE  NEWf 


of  the  particular  doctrines  of  the  New  Church, 
in  order  to  remove  prejudice  and  avoid  miscon- 
ceptions. There  is  an  old  maxim  that  "  The 
true  is  not  new,  and  the  new  is  not  true."  This 
maxim  is  sometimes  quoted  as  a  reason  for  not 
investigating  a  new  religious  doctrine.  There  is 
a  sense  in  which  it  is  true.  There  is  a  sense  in 
which  no  truth  natural  as  well  as  spiritual  can 
he  new.  A  truth  must  exist  before  it  can  be  dis- 
covered. The  truth  that  all  bodies  attract  one 
another,  existed  before  Newton  discovered  the 
universality  of  the  law  of  gravitation.  The 
same  is  the  fact  in  every  discovery  of  science. 
The  truths  of  geology,  astronomy,  botany,  and 
of  every  science,  have  existed  since  the  creation. 
They  have  their  origin  in  the  Divine  nature. 
No  finite  mind  can  create  a  truth.  In  this  sense 
the  true  is  not  new. 

But  while  truths  cannot  be  new  in  themselves, 
in  the  sense  that  they  never  existed  until  known, 
they  may  be  and  are  new  to  man  when  he  first 
discovers  them.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  we  con- 
stantly speak  of  learning  new  truths.  In  this 
sense  every  truth  is  new  to  us  when  we  first 
learn  it.     This  is  the  fact  with  regard  to  the 


IX  WHAT  SENSE  CAX  A  TRUTH  HE  NEW?  21 


truths  of  natural  science  as  certainly  as  in  rela- 
tion to  the  truths  of  spiritual  science.  It  is  in 
this  sense  that  we  regard  the  principles  and  doc- 
trines of  the  New  Church  as  new.  They  were 
new  to  me,  and  they  will  he  new  to  every  one 
who  receives  them. 

The  idea  that  no  new  knowledge  concerning 
God,  and  man's  spiritual  nature  and  destiny  is 
possihle,  is  contrary  to  all  known  laws  of  the 
human  mind  and  of  human  progress.  There 
Avas  a  time  when  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  as 
they  have  heen  formulated  and  generally  ac- 
cepted, were  new  to  men.  It  is  only  within  a 
few  years  that  the  truths  of  natural  science  have 
been  discovered.  They  are  new  to  the  human 
mind.  Is  it  not  absurd  to  suppose  that  man 
reached  the  limits  of  spiritual  and  Divine  truth 
centuries  ago,  and  that  there  can  be  no  new 
knowledge  of  God  and  man  ?  Is  it  not  one  of 
His  last  declarations  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
"Behold  I  make  all  things  new"?  The  most 
solemn  and  oft-repeated  promise  the  Lord  has 
made  to  men  cannot  be  fulfilled  without  new 
knowledge  on  all  questions  relating  to  Himself, 
to  man,  and  his  spiritual  nature  and  destiny. 


22      IN  WHAT  SENSE  CAN  A  TRUTH  BE  NEW? 


The  Lord  has  promised  it,  trie  history  of  the 
raee  illustrates  it,  and  the  nature  of  man 
demands  it.  We  have,  therefore,  every  reason 
to  expect  it. 

A  NEW  DOCTRINE  NOT  NECESSARILY  TRUE. 

But  doctrines  may  be  new  and  not  true.  It 
is  not  the  novelty  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church  that  commends  them  to  my  mind  and 
wins  its  acceptance.  The  mere  fact  that  they 
are  new  is  no  reason  for  believing  them.  It  is 
rather  against  them.  "  No  man  having  drunk 
old  wine  straightway  desireth  new,  for  he  saith 
the  old  is  better."  New  theories  and  opinions 
on  many  of  the  essential  doctrines  of  Christianity 
are  frequently  presented.  The  multiplication  of 
sects  is  caused  by  them ;  many  of  them  attract 
more  or  less  attention,  and  then  give  place  to 
other  theories  which  have  no  basis  in  the  Divine 
order.  The  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  are 
not  new  in  the  sense  of  being  merely  novel. 

HOW  THE  NEW  DOCTRINES  DIFFER  FROM  THE  OLD. 

Nor  are  they  new  in  the  sense  that  there  was 
no  saving  knowledge  of  God  among  men  before 


IN  WHAT  SENSE  CAN  A  TRUTH  BE  NEW?  23 


day  were  revealed  to  him.  The  Lord  lias  never 
left  man  without  some  knowledge  of  His  ex- 
istence and  of  the  essential  means  of  salvation. 
The  new  truths  "  do  not  come  to  destroy  the  law 
or  the  prophets,  hut  to  fulfil  them."  They  clear 
away  the  traditions  of  men  and  the  glosses  -with 
which  genuine  truths  have  heen  invested,  that 
their  essential  forms  and  ground  in  the  nature 
of  God  and  the  nature  of  man  may  he  seen. 
They  are  new  in  the  sense  that  all  discoveries  in 
the  nature  and  laws  of  the  material  world  are 
new.  They  differ  from  the  old  as  science  differs 
from  isolated  facts ;  as  theories  formed  from  the 
appearances  of  nature  to  the  senses  differ  from 
the  principles  that  are  hased  on  the  essential  re- 
lations of  one  suhstance  to  another.  Science 
does  not  destroy  facts.  It  makes  a  new  use  of 
them.  It  does  not  even  destroy  the  appearances 
of  the  senses.  The  stars  appeared  to  the  eye  of 
Newton  like  gems  of  light,  as  they  appear  to  the 
savage  and  the  animal.  They  can  appear  in  no 
other  form  to  the  material  eye.  Science  only 
destroys  the  illusions  and  false  theories  which 
men  form  from  the  appearances  of  nature  when 
they  mistake  them  for  truths.    The  same  prin- 


21 


A  NEW  ATTITUDE  OF  MIND- 


ciple  holds  in  the  laws  of  spirit.  The  spirit  does 
not  destroy  the  letter.  It  illuminates  it  as  the 
sun  the  cloud. 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  SPIRIT. 

It  is  well  known  that  those  who  are  governed 
by  a  true  scientific  spirit  spare  no  labor  to  see 
things  as  they  actually  exist  in  nature.  They  do 
not  seek  to  put  their  theories  into  nature  and 
compel  her  to  conform  to  them.  On  the  contrary, 
they  try  to  discover  her  order  and  to  hear  her 
speak  in  her  own  language.  They  go  to  nature 
as  honest  disciples  with  watchful  eyes  and  docile 
minds  to  learn  the  qualities  of  her  substance? 
and  the  modes  of  her  action.  This  attitude  of 
the  scientific  mind  has  brought  men  into  friendly 
relations  with  the  laws  of  the  Lord's  order  and  His 
methods  of  accomplishing  His  purposes.  Their 
minds  are  open  to  the  reception  of  truth,  and 
the  Lord  can  reveal  to  them  the  secrets  of  His 
methods  and  teach  them  how  to  make  the  awful 
forces  of  wind  and  rain,  of  heat  and  electricity, 
the  servants  of  their  will.  It  is  due  to  this  new 
method  of  investigating  nature  that  more  prog- 
ress has  been  made  in  the  knowledge  of  the 


A  NEW  POINT  OF  VIEW. 


25 


forces  and  (anilities  of  the  material  world  during 
the  last  century  than  in  all  the  previous  ages  of 
man. 

A  NEW  AND  HIGHER  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

It  is  iu  this  sense  that  the  New  Church  is 
new.  It  regards  every  question  relating  to  the 
Lord,  to  man,  and  their  relations  to  each  other 
from  a  new  and  a  more  interior  point  of  view. 
It  accepts  as  an  axiom  that  the  laws  according  to 
which  the  Lord  creates  and  regulates  the  forces 
of  the  spiritual  universe,  are  as  immutable  in 
their  nature  as  natural  laws ;  that  it  is  as  impos- 
sible for  man  to  change  them  as  it  is  to  annul 
the  law  of  attraction  or  change  the  nature  of 
light  and  heat.  Man  cannot  dictate  how  the 
mind  shall  be  organized.  He  cannot  change  the 
nature  of  goodness  and  truth ;  he  cannot  teach 
infinite  wisdom;  he  cannot  force  his  opinions 
and  theories  into  the  nature  of  God  or  the  con- 
stitution of  the  human  mind.  His  true  attitude 
is  as  a  disciple,  desiring  to  be  instructed,  to  learn 
what  the  laws  of  the  Lord  in  the  spiritual  plane 
of  being  are,  and  to  obey  them.  He  must  keep 
his  mind  open  to  the  reception  of  truth ;  he  must 
desire  to  know  what  is  true ;  and  not  what  will 

B  3 


26 


A  NEW  KIND  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 


confirm  his  theories  and  preconceived  notions. 
He  must  demand  the  authority  of  the  truth 
itself.  This  is  the  attitude  of  the  mind  to  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  and  to  the  Lord  Himself  which 
the  new  doctrines  teach  and  tend  to  secure. 

A  NEW  KIND  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

The  result  is  the  same  in  spiritual  as  in  natural 
things.  It  has  led  not  only  to  new  knowledge 
of  the  Lord  and  of  man,  but  also  to  a  new  and 
higher  kind  of  knowledge.  It  has  led  from 
isolated  facts  to  related  and  ordered  knowledge : 
it  has  lifted  the  mind  to  a  higher  and  more  in- 
terior point  of  view.  From  this  point  of  view 
Ave  can  see  the  laws  of  the  Divine  wisdom  on  the 
spiritual  plane  of  existence  as  they  are,  and  not 
as  they  appear  in  the  guise  of  natural  forms. 
This  is  a  new  and  distinct  step  in  spiritual  knowl- 
edge. It  introduces  the  mind  into  a  new  world, 
where  it  becomes  illuminated  with  a  new  and 
more  interior  light.  It  is  a  step  in  spiritual 
light  like  that  from  the  tallow  dip  to  the  electric 
arc ;  from  star-light  to  the  sun.  The  change 
from  the  old  to  the  new  is  not  simply  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  old,  but  the  attainment  of  something 


THE  NEW  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


27 


better.  It  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy : 
••  For  brass  I  will  bring  gold,  and  for  iron  I  will 
bring  silver,  and  for  wood  brass,  and  for  stones 
iron.  I  will  also  make  thy  officers  peace  and 
thine  exactors  righteousness." 

But  this  general  view  of  the  newness  and 
trueness  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church 
and  the  grounds  for  their  acceptance  will  appear 
more  clearly  in  the  light  of  some  examples.  I 
cannot  enter  minutely  into  the  particulars  of  all 
the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church.  To  do  this 
would  require  volumes.  I  can  only  present  some 
of  the  fundamental  ones;  and  if  I  do  not  suc- 
ceed by  a  statement  of  them  in  giving  good 
reason  for  being  a  New  Churchman,  a  fuller 
exposition  of  the  doctrines  would  be  of  no  use. 
I  proceed  therefore  to  state  as  concisely  as  pos- 
sible what  these  new  doctrines  teach  concerning 
some  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

THE  IDEA  OP  GOD  THE  CENTRAL  TRUTH  OF  RELIGION. 

The  central  doctrine  of  every  religion  is  the 
one  which  teaches  us  the  nature  of  God  and  His 
relations  to  men.    God  is  the  centre  of  creation, 


28 


THE  NEW  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


and  our  ideas  of  Him  are  central  to  all  our  con- 
ceptions of  life.  They  enter  into  every  form  of 
human  thought  and  give  quality  and  direction  to 
all  human  purposes  and  actions.  It  is,  therefore, 
of  essential  importance  that  our  knowledge  of 
Him  should  he  true,  distinct,  and  adequate  to 
every  want  of  the  soul.  Ignorance  of  His 
nature,  and  misconceptions  of  His  character  and 
relations  to  men,  are  everywhere  revealed  in  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  as  the  cause  of  all  error,  evil, 
sorrow,  and  spiritual  death;  while  "to  know 
Him  aright,"  He  Himself  declares,  "  is  life  ever- 
lasting." 

THE  PERSONAL  UNITY  OP  GOD. 

If  there  is  any  truth  clearly  revealed  in  the 
Bible,  and  in  full  accordance  with  enlightened 
reason,  it  is  that  there  is  only  one  Supreme 
Being.  "  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is 
one  Lord,"  and  there  is  no  other,  is  the  constant 
teaching  of  the  Lord  Himself  in  His  "Word.  I 
am  a  New  Churchman  because  the  doctrines  of 
the  New  Church  in  every  particular  are  the  nor- 
mal outgrowth  of  the  central  truth  that  "  God  is 
one  in  essence  and  person,"  as  every  branch, 


THE  NEW  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


29 


twig,  leaf,  blossom,  and  fruit  of  a  tree  to  the  least 
form  and  special  quality  is  determined  by  the 
germ  from  which  it  sprung  and  partakes  of  its 
nature.  These  doctrines  do  not  say  one  and 
think  three ;  they  do  not  teach  directly  or  by 
inference  anything  that  tends  to  obscure  or 
qualify  the  central  fact  of  the  personal  unity  of 
God.  They  teach  in  the  most  explicit  manner 
that  there  is  only  one  Divine  Being,  only  one 
Divine  mind,  only  one  Creator,  Redeemer,  and 
Saviour;  only  one  Source  of  life  and  power, 
however  various  the  forms  it  assumes,  and  the 
effects  it  produces.  They  admit  nothing  that 
tends  to  modify  or  obscure  this  central  truth 
either  in  principle  or  practice.  This  doctrine 
measures  every  law  of  spiritual  life  :  it  deter- 
mines the  meaning  of  every  passage  of  Scripture, 
however  diversified  the  form  of  expression,  and 
gives  the  true  significance  of  every  object  in  the 
creation  and  every  event  in  human  life.  AVe 
cannot  implore  one  Being  to  have  mercy  upon 
us  for  the  sake  of  or  through  the  mediation  of 
another :  we  cannot  ask  one  Divine  Person  to  for- 
give our  sins,  to  save  and  bless  us,  for  the  sake 
of  another  Divine  Person,  because  there  can  be, 
3* 


3i ) 


THE  NEW  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


in  the  nature  of  things,  only  one  Divine  Person 
who  has  the  power  to  grant  us  these  favors. 

By  unity  much  more  is  meant  than  that  there 
is  only  one  Divine  Being.  Unity  implies  variety 
and  distinctness  of  parts.  "  In  the  Lord  infinite 
things  are  distinctly  one."  That  is,  the  Divine 
Unify  consists  of  an  infinite  variety  of  qualities 
and  forms,  separate  and  distinct  from  one  an- 
other; each  one  perfect  in  itself,  and  acting  in 
perfect  harmony  with  every  other  faculty.  As 
in  the  human  hody  there  are  an  indefinite  num- 
ber and  variety  of  organs,  each  one  of  which 
has  its  own  form  and  functions,  and  all  com- 
bined make  one  body,  so  in  the  Lord  there  are 
infinite  forms  and  qualities,  each  of  which  is 
perfect  in  itself,  and  all  are  combined  in  His 
glorious  Divine  Person.  In  their  action  there 
is  perfect  order,  perfect  harmony,  perfect  unity. 
ISTo  faculty  acts  in  opposition  to  another.  There 
can  be  no  conflict  between  the  Divine  mercy  and 
the  Divine  justice.  There  can  be  no  suppres- 
sion of  the  Lord's  love.  It  cannot  be  changed 
into  hatred,  anger,  and  revenge.  The  perfect 
unity  of  the  Lord  in  every  .wise,  is  the  central  and 
immutable  truth  which  must  enter  into  every  doctrine 


THE  NEW  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


31 


concerning  Him.  No  idea  or  thought  must  be 
entertained  or  interpretation  of  His  Word  be  ad- 
mitted that  tends  in  (he  least  to  modify  or  obscure 
this  immutable  and  central  truth. 

GOD  IS  HUMAN  AS  WELL  AS  DIVINE. 

I  believe  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church 
because  they  teach  me  who  this  Divine  Being  is. 
lie  is  not  a  diffused  and  formless  essence,  an 
abstract  and  omnipotent  force.  It  is  not  in  the 
nature  of  a  human  being  to  love  a  formless 
essence,  or  an  abstract  power,  or  a  universal  law. 
We  cannot  love  an  atmosphere,  or  a  gas,  or  an 
ether.  Love  is  a  human  quality,  and  can  only 
be  exercised  by  human  beings.  A  gas,  or  an 
omnipotent  force,  cannot  exercise  or  awaken 
affection.  God  must  therefore  be  human. 
When  He  teaches  us  that  He  is  love ;  that  He 
loves  us  with  an  infinite  and  unchanging  affec- 
tion, He  declares  in  the  most  emphatic  manner 
that  He  is  human  as  well  as  Divine. 

GOD   REVEALED  TO  MEN  IN  HUMAN  FORM. 

In  accordance  with  this  essential  quality  of  His 
nature,  Jehovah,  God,  the  I  Am,  the  Creator,  tin- 


32 


THE  NEW  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


only  Divine  Person,  took  upon  Himself  man's 
nature,  clothed  Himself  with  a  material  body, 
and  appeared  to  men  in  a  human  form.  The 
form  was  not  foreign  to  Him.  The  formless  did 
not  assume  it.  It  was  His  form  before  the  in- 
carnation. His  incarnation  consisted  simply  in 
clothing  Himself  with  garments  of  spiritual  and 
material  substances,  as  every  spirit  clothes  itself 
with  a  material  body.  The  garment  takes  on  the 
form  of  the  spirit.  The  spirit  is  not  changed 
into  material  flesh  and  bones.  It  changes  ma- 
terial substances  into  its  own  form  and  uses  it  to 
develop  and  perfect  its  own  nature.  So  Jehovah, 
the  one  and  only  Divine  Person,  clothed  His 
Divine  with  a  human  nature  and  a  material  body. 
By  a  human  nature  we  mean  a  human  mind  with 
all  its  affections  and  intellectual  faculties,  all  its 
hereditary  evil  tendencies,  all  its  limitations  and 
capacities  for  development,  He  was  not  changed 
into  a  human  spirit  and  a  material  body.  He 
organized  spiritual  and  material  substances  into 
His  own  form,  and  by  means  of  them  came  into 
direct  personal  contact  with  men.  He  became 
Immanucl,  God  with  us. 

I  believe  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church 


THE  NEW  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


33 


because  they  bring  Jehovah,  the  onh'  Divine 
Person,  near  to  me  and  present  Him  in  a  form 
of  which  I  can  gain  a  distinct  conception.  When 
I  go  to  that  human  form  I  do  not  lose  Him  and 
find  another  Divine  Person.  There  is  no  jug- 
glery, no  illusion  in  the  manifestation.  I  see 
Jehovah  Himself  in  His  own  form,  in  His  own 
character.  "  He  that  seeth  me  seeth  the  Father." 
I  hear  Him  speak.  I  see  Divine  love  and  wisdom 
shining  in  His  face  and  embodied  in  all  His 
words  and  deeds.  I  see  His  patience,  His  tender 
mercies,  His  devotion  to  men  in  healing  their 
diseases,  in  feeding  the  hungry,  in  teaching  them 
by  precept  and  example  how  to  overcome  evil 
and  gain  eternal  life.  I  can  love  and  worship 
and  serve  such  a  Divine  Being.  I  can  gain  a 
distinct  idea  of  His  form,  His  nature,  His  rela- 
tions to  me  and  to  all  men.  My  thought  is  not 
divided,  my  affections  do  not  pass  from  one 
to  another  in  doubt  which  to  love  supremely. 
Thought  and  affection  are  centred  on  one 
glorious  Divine  Person,  and  there  is  no  dis- 
traction of  thought  or  conflict  or  division  of 
feeling. 


THE  NEW  VIEW  OF  MAN. 


truth.  He  can  know  it  and  understand  it.  He 
can  think  and  reason, — in  a  word,  he  is  com- 
pletely equipped  with  intellectual  faculties,  be- 
cause he  derives  them  from  Him  who  possesses 
them  in  infinite  perfection. 

According  to  the  same  law  all  the  attributes 
of  the  Divine  nature  are  finited  in  man's  spir- 
itual nature.  They  exist  in  man,  at  first  as  mere 
possibilities,  as  germs  in  the  seed.  They  lie 
folded  up  in  natural  faculties  and  coverings  of 
flesh  and  bone,  like  the  tender  germ  in  the 
tough  skin  and  hard  shell  of  many  fruits.  But 
all  the  forces  of  the  Divine  love  and  intelligence 
tend  to  awaken  them  to  action  and  develop  them 
into  distinct  existence,  as  the  heat  and  light  of 
the  sun  tend  to  raise  into  form  and  life  the 
germs  in  every  seed. 

THE  ORDER  OF  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  natural  faculties  are  first  developed,  that 
they  may  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  spiritual  and 
become  instrumental  in  forming  them.  Man  has 
many  faculties  in  common  with  the  animal. 
But  those  which  constitute  his  human  nature  are 
inherited    more    directly  from    his  Heavenly 


THE  NEW  VIEW  OF  MAN. 


37 


Father.  These  must  be  "born  from  above;" 
natural  faculties  he  inherits  from  his  natural 
parents.  This  new  birth  is  an  orderly  step  in 
his  creation.  It  is  the  formation  of  a  new 
and  distinctly  higher  plane  of  faculties  which 
are  spiritual  in  their  nature  and  capable  of  re- 
ceiving life  from  the  Lord  in  more  interior  and 
excellent  forms.  If  man  bad  never  sinned,  this 
step  would  have  been  equally  necessary,  but  it 
would  not  have  been  attended  with  so  much  diffi- 
culty. It  would  have  been  a  normal  development, 
like  the  three  kingdoms  in  nature,  or  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  plant, — "  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear, 
then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 

By  the  generation  and  development  of  this 
plane  of  his  mind  he  becomes  more  directly  and 
specifically  a  child  of  God.  He  partakes  of  His 
nature  in  higher  degrees  and  purer  forms.  He 
can  reciprocate  His  love.  His  understanding 
becomes  illuminated  with  the  Divine  truth,  and 
he  begins  to  come  into  the  possession  of  the 
infinite  riches  of  love,  wisdom,  and  happiness 
which  he  inherits  from  his  Heavenly  Father. 
There  is  nothing  arbitrary  or  technical  or 
merely  legal  in  the  bestowal  of  these  favors. 

4 


38 


THE  NEW  VIEW  OF  MAN 


They  are  the  natural  effects  of  spiritual  causes. 
By  this  new  birth  man  comes  into  such  relations 
to  the  Lord  that  He  can  bestow  these  spiritual 
blessings  upon  him. 

THE   GREATNESS  OF   THIS    NEW  BIRTH. 

What  dignity  and  grandeur  and  immeasurea- 
ble  possibilities  does  this  fact  give  to  man's 
nature  !  Descended  from  God  !  Born  of  God ! 
Related  by  natural  ties,  by  blood,  to  Him  who  is 
the  Source  of  all  power  and  life,  and  in  Whom 
all  human  qualities  exist  in  Divine  perfection! 
How  closely  this  truth  allies  us  to  our  Heavenly 
Father !  It  is  the  ground  and  possibility  of  our 
union  with  Him.  It  opens  a  door  into  a  new 
world  of  love  and  knowledge,  and  admits  us 
into  the  deep  mysteries  of  communion  with 
Him.  It  places  us  in  a  position  to  solve,  and 
gives  us  the  means  of  solving,  many  of  the 
problems  which  have  baffled  human  wisdom, 
and  have  been  regarded  as  beyond  the  reach  of 
human  power.  I  am  a  New  Churchman  because 
the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  admit  me  into 
these  mysteries,  illuminate  them  with  the  glory  of 
Divine  truth,  and  reveal  to  my  understanding  the 


HOW  MAN  IS  RELATED  TO  THE  LORD.  39 


beauty,  order,  harmony,  and  wisdom  which  pre- 
vail where  before  all  was  dark  and  inexplicable. 

OUR  RELATIONS  TO  THE  LORD  NOT  MERELY  LEGAL. 

Tiny  show  in  a  clear  and  rational  manner  that 
our  relations  to  the  Lord  are  not  merely  legal, 
mechanical,  artificial,  and  arbitrary.  They  are 
not  essentially  the  relations  of  a  dependent  sub- 
ject to  an  irresponsible  and  almighty  sovereign. 
They  inhere  in  and  grow  out  of  the  nature  of 
the  Lord  and  the  nature  of  man.  We  are  re- 
lated to  the  Lord  as  the  plant  to  the  seed,  as  the 
child  to  the  parent,  as  effect  to  cause.  All 
human  faculties  that  have  not  become  perverted 
are  the  same  in  form,  mode  of  action,  and 
nature,  as  the  faculties  which  constitute  the 
Divine  nature.  Human  love  is  of  the  same 
nature  as  Divine  love;  the  intellectual  faculties 
in  the  creature  are  the  same  in  kind  that  they 
are  in  the  Creator.  It  is  true  that  these  faculties 
in  the  Lord  are  infinitely  superior  in  power  and 
purify  and  every  perfection  of  form.  But  they 
are  the  same  in  kind,  they  possess  the  same 
qualities,  and  serve  the  same  uses  in  man  that 
they  do  in  the  Lord. 


40         HOW  MAN  CAN  KNOW  THE  LORD. 


THIS    SIMILARITY  OF    NATURE    MAKES    THE  KNOWL- 
EDGE OF  THE  LORD  POSSIBLE. 

This  similarity  of  nature  renders  it  possible 
for  man  to  know  the  Lord.  Not  that  we  can 
fully  comprehend  Him.  We  cannot  Pally  com- 
prehend anything.  All  that  we  can  know  of  the 
rock,  plant,  animal,  or  man  is  measured  by  their 
relations  to  us,  —  by  the  sensations,  thoughts, 
feelings,  and  affections  they  cause  in  us.  If  the 
Lord  is  entirely  dissimilar  to  man  in  every  re- 
spect, we  can  form  no  conception  of  Him.  But 
if  love,  intelligence,  consciousness,  will,  under- 
standing, and  power  are  of  the  same  nature  in 
Him  that  they  are  in  us,  and  operate  in  the  same 
way,  then  we  can  form  some  true,  though  inade- 
quate, conception  of  His  nature  and  of  His  char- 
acter. As  the  smallest  globule  of  mist  is  of  the 
same  nature  and  in  the  same  form  as  the  ocean, 
so  the  feeble  motions  of  love  in  man  are  of  the 
same  nature  as  the  infinite  perfections  of  the 
Divine  love.  The  lowest  gives  us  a  hint  of  the 
highest,  and  enables  the  feeblest  intelligence  to 
form  a  true  conception  of  the  Divine  attributes, 
though  that   conception  must  necessarily  fall 


MAN  DERIVES  HIS  FORM  FROM  THE  LORD.  41 


infinitely  short  of  a  particular  and  adequate 
comprehension  of  the  purity,  power,  and  extent 
of  their  perfections. 

THE  LORD  IN  THE  HITMAN  FORM. 

But  this  central  truth  that  man  descends  from 
Jehovah  and  derives  his  nature  from  Him,  ac- 
cording to  the  universal  laws  of  heredity,  applies 
not  only  to  the  qualities  embodied  in  the  Divine 
and  in  human  nature,  hut  also  to  the  form  in 
which  these  qualities  exist;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  form  which  the  various  faculties  of  the 
Divine  and  those  of  the  human  mind,  in  their 
comhined  order,  assume  that  they  may  act  to- 
gether, and  compose  one  personal  heing.  This 
form,  as  we  all  know,  in  man  is  the  human. 
It  follows,  as  a  logical  necessity  and  an  immu- 
table law  of  heredity,  that  the  Lord  from  whom 
man  descends  must  he  in  the  human  form  also.j 
There  are  no  exceptions  to  this  law  in  the  crea- 
tion, bo  far  as  we  know,  and  it  would  he  easy 
to  si iow  that  there  can  he  none.  A  human 
child  must  have  a  human  parent. 


4* 


42    QUALITIES  ESSENTIAL  TO  PERSONALITY. 


ALL    THE    DIVINE   ATTRIBUTES    ESSENTIAL    TO  PER- 
SONALITY. 

This  law  teaches  us  that  it  would  in  the 
-.nature  of  things  he  impossible  for  one  Supreme 
Being  to  exist  in  three  distinct  Divine  persons, 
as  it  would  be  for  one  human  being  to  exist 
in  three  distinct  human  persons.  The  personal 
unity  of  the  Lord  must  be'  the  same  in  nature 
and  form  as  the  personal  unity  in  man,  who  was 
created  in  His  image.  The  Divine  attributes 
must  be  embodied  in  one  being  ;  they  are  essen- 
tial to  personality.  Every  attribute  or  faculty  or 
quality  of  the  Divine  nature  is  an  essential  factor 
in  the  Divine  personality.  These  faculties  or 
attributes  could  not  be  divided  between  two  per- 
sons. If  such  a  division  were  possible,  neither 
person  would  be  a  complete  human  or  a  com- 
plete Divine  being.  The  tripersonality  of  God 
is,  in  the  nature  of  things,  as  impossible  as  the 
tripersonality  of  man. 

THE  TRINITY  ESSENTIAL  TO  PERSONALITY. 

But  the  absolute  personality  of  God  does  not 
in  the  least  militate  against  the  fact  of  a  trinity 


THREE  FACTORS  ESSENTIAL. 


43 


in  Him.  There  is  a  trinity  in  man,  and  conse- 
quently there  must  be  one  in  God,  from  whom 
man  derives  his  form  and  nature.  We  have, 
then,  only  to  look  to  the  trinity  in  ourselves  and 
see  how  it  forms  one  man  to  understand  how  a 
Divine  Trinity  forms  one  God.  A  man  is  com- 
posed of  a  mind,  or  spirit,  and  a  hody,  or  of  a 
spiritual  hody  and  of  a  material  body,  each  of 
which  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  other.  They 
are  organized  of  entirely  different  substances, 
and  they  possess  specifically  distinct  qualities  and 
capacities.  But  both  compose  one  person,  and 
neither  of  them  without  the  other  would  be  a 
man. 

Besides  these  two  bodies,  which,  considered  in 
themselves,  are  merely  organic  forms,  possessing 
no  more  life  or  power  in  themselves  to  act  than 
an  engine  has  to  move,  there  is  an  inflowing  of 
life  or  power  from  the  Lord,  which  gives  life  and 
the  power  of  consciousness  and  action  to  these 
organic  forms.  Xow  we  have  the  three  factors 
which  compose  a  human  being.  We  have  the 
mind  and  the  body  and  the  influent  life  which 
are  the  essential  constituents  of  one  person,  one 
human  being. 


44  THE  NAMES  GIVEN  TO  THEM  IN  THE  LORD. 


There  is  tlie  same  trinity  in  the  Lord,  but 
more  distinct  and  more  perfectly  united  than  in 
man.  The  three  are  called  by  different  names, 
but  they  hear  the  same  relations  to  one  another, 
and  perform  the  same  functions,  and  are  the 
essential  factors  of  one  Divine  person.  Before 
the  Incarnation  they  were  love,  truth,  and  power; 
or  Jehovah,  God,  and  Spirit.  After  the  Incarna- 
tion they  are  called  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit. 
The  Father  took  upon  Himself  man's  mind  and 
material  body.  He  begat  it.  He  used  it  as  a 
medium  of  communication  between  Himself  and 
man.  He  dwelt  in  it  as  a  man's  mind  dwells  in 
his  body.  This  human  mind  was  the  Son,  and 
partook  of  the  nature  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
mother.  Thus  this  mind  was  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  son  of  man.  But  it  was  not  a  different 
person  from  the  Father.  He  dwelt  in  it.  He 
did  the  works.  This  mind  in  its  first  state  could 
do  nothing  of  itself.  But  it  was  a  perfect  in- 
strument in  the  Father's  hands,  and  gradually 
became  the  voluntary  mediator  of  transmitting 
the  Divine  life  to  men  in  forms  and  qualities  so 
modified  and  adapted  to  the  low  and  feeble  state 
of  the  human  mind  that  it  could  take  effect  upon 


THE  WHOLE  TRINITY  IN  JESUS  CHRIST.  45 


it.  In  the  one  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
we  have  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  We 
have  a  distinct  trinity  and  a  personal  unity,  of 
the  same  nature  as  that  which  exists  in  every 
human  being.  We  have  therefore  hut  one  Divine 
Person,  hut  one  ohject  of  love,  thought,  and  wor- 
ship. For  me  the  problem  of  the  unity  of  the 
Divine  Trinity  in  one  person,  "  in  whom  dwells 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  is  perfectly 
solved.  I  find  examples  of  it  in  myself  and  in 
every  human  being. 

WHAT  THE  BIBLE  TEACHES  OF  THE  DIVINE  TRINITY 
AND  UNITY. 

This  truth  of  the  unity  of  the  Trinity  in  the 
one  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  also 
plainly  and  specifically  taught  by  the  Lord  in 
Hie  Word.  "The  Father  dwelleth  in  me."  "He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  The 
Father  dwells  in  the  Son,  the  human  nature,  as 
man's  spiritual  body  dwells  in  his  material  body. 
We  see  Jehovah,  the  Father,  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ,  as  we  see  man's  spirit  when  we 
look  upon  the  material  body.  The  human  mind, 
called  the  Son,  is  the  medium  or  the  mediator 


46       HOW  THE  THREE  MAKE  ONE  LORD. 


between  man  and  Jehovah,  as  the  material  body 
is  the  medium  of  communication  between  man's 
spiritual  body  and  the  material  world,  and  the 
spirits  of  other  human  beings.  Tbe  material 
eye  has  no  power  to  see  a  spiritual  form.  The 
material  ear  cannot  hear  a  spiritual  sound.  The 
material  senses  are  too  gross  to  be  awakened  to 
consciousness  by  a  spiritual  force.  They  only 
serve  as  mediums  between  spirit  and  matter. 
"No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time.  The 
only  begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom^of  the 
Father,  He  hath  declared  Him."  ]STo  man  ever 
saw  a  spiritual  being  with  his  natural  eyes.  The 
human  mind  and  the  material  body  which  Jeho- 
vah assumed  became  the  medium  of  transmit- 
ting the  Divine  love,  wisdom,  and  power  to  men, 
in  forms  and  qualities  adapted  to  their  weak  and 
]  kt verted  condition. 

As  the  material  body  is  the  human  mind 
brought  down  to  the  material  plane  of  the 
creation  and  adapted  in  the  most  exquisite 
manner  to  the  forms  and  qualities  of  matter,  so 
the  human  mind  which  Jehovah  assumed  and 
clothed  with  a  material  body,  is  a  perfecl 
medium  adapted  to  every  capacity  and  condition 


A  REAL  ATONEMENT. 


47 


of  man's  fallen  nature,  to  enlighten  his  igno- 
rance, to  correct  his  errors,  to  remove  his  evils, 
and  to  restore  his  fallen  and  corrupt  nature  to 
spiritual  life  and  the  perfections  of  its  original 
image  and  likeness. 

TUB  ATONEMENT  A  REAL  AND  RATIONAL  ONE. 

In  this  way  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church 
give  me  a  real  Atonement  which  satisfies  every 
demand  of  justice,  manifests  in  the  most  pathetic 
manner  every  quality  of  mercy,  and  accom- 
plishes the  work  of  reuniting  man  to  the  Lord 
and  of  restoring  to  him  the  Divine  image  lost 
by  sin.  They  show  bow  this  work  was  effected 
by  Jehovah.  They  demonstrate  the  necessity  of 
His  becoming  incarnate.  All  the  theories  which 
have  been  devised  by  man  concerning  the  pay- 
ment of  a  debt — vicarious  suffering  of  the  inno- 
cenl  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  Divine  justice 
upon  the  guilty,  the  idea  of  the  transfer  of 
righteousness  from  the  innocent  to  the  guilty, 
and  especially  the  division  of  the  Divine  Being 
into  two  distinct  persons  of  diverse  if  not  oppo- 
site characters,  which  is  the  most  fatal  error  in 
the  whole  system  of  theology — arc  swept  away 


48  JEHOVAH  TOOK  MAN'S  NATURE 


as  the  Lord  dispersed  the  human  traditions  by 
which  the  Jews  had  made  the  Word  of  God  of 
none  effect,  and  Jehovah  in  the  form  of  Jesus 
Christ  stands  forth  in  glorious  majesty,  one  God, 
in  one  Divine  Person,  as  the  only  Redeemer  and 
Saviour.  This  doctrine  does  not  detract  one 
iota  from  the  lost  condition  of  man  and  the 
necessity  of  the  incarnation ;  it  does  not  minify 
or  destroy  the  Atonement.  On  the  contrary,  it 
gives  us  a  real  instead  of  a  legal  and  artificial 
one.  It  gives  us  an  atonement  grounded  in  the 
nature  of  God  and  in  the  nature  of  man.  It 
gives  us  an  atonement  which  is  in  perfect  ac- 
cordance with  every  relation  between  man,  Avho 
is  the  recipient  of  life,  and  the  Supreme  Being, 
who  is  the  only  Source  of  life.  It  satisfies  every 
demand  of  love,  mercy,  justice,  immutable  law, 
and  the  nature  of  man. 

OUR  SAVIOUR  AND  FRIEND. 

This  view  of  the  method  of  salvation  presents 
the  Lord  to  us  in  a  clear,  distinct,  glorious,  and 
attractive  form.  7Tc  no  longer  appears  remote 
and  stern,  the  embodiment  of  inflexible  justice, 
exacting  every  drop  of  blood,  and  every  wrench 


TO  RESTORE  HIS  J  MAGE  TO  IT. 


49 


of  suffering  to  appease  His  wrath  and  avert  His 
vengeance.  It  presents  Him  to  us  as  a  Divine 
Father,  as  a  Being  of  infinite  love  and  mercy, 
with  a  heart  full  of  tenderness  for  His  lost,  suf- 
fering, and  dying  children,  who  follows  them  in 
every  step  of  their  wandering  from  Him,  who 
never  for  a  moment  remits  any  effort  which  His 
infinite  wisdom  can  devise  and  His  omnipotent 
power  carry  into  effect,  to  save  them  from  sin 
and  sorrow,  and  hring  them  back  to  His  arms 
and  His  heart. 

When  all  other  means  had  failed,  He  came 
Himself,  in  the  only  way  He  could  come.  He 
took  upon  Himself  man's  fallen  nature.  He 
came  to  man  in  the  guise  of  a  servant.  By 
His  own  lips  He  taught  man  the  truth  con- 
cerning his  fallen  and  perishing  condition,  and 
showed  him  by  precept  and  example  how  to 
escape  from  the  death  of  sin  and  to  gain  eternal 
life.  He  gave  sight  to  the  blind,  that  He  might 
show  His  power  to  open  their  spiritual  eyes, 
blinded  by  sin  to  the  light  of  Divine  truth.  He 
caused  the  deaf  to  bear,  that  He  might  open 
-their  ears  to  the  words  of  eternal  life.  He 
raised  the  dead,  that  He  might  give  to  men  in 


50 


HE  LIVED  WITH  MEN 


all  ages  the  proof  of  His  power  to  raise  to 
spiritual  life  those  who  are  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins.  He  ate  with  publicans  and  sinners ;  He 
labored  with  His  hands  ;  He  talked  and  walked ; 
He  slept  and  lived  in  their  humble  homes ;  He 
wept  with  them  in  their  sorrows  and  rejoiced  in 
their  joys.  He  was  assaulted  by  all  the  infernal 
hosts,  tried  and  tempted  as  no  merely  human 
being  ever  was.  He  was  buffeted,  spat  upon, 
crowned  with  thorns,  condemned,  and  crucified. 
He  passed  through  all  human  conditions  and 
tasted  death  for  every  man,  that  He  might 
demonstrate  to  men  in  every  condition  His  sym- 
pathy with  them  and  love  for  them,  and  provide 
the  means  and  the  way  to  save  them. 

He  did  not  stand  aloof,  and  in  stern  majesty 
close  His  ears  to  the  imploring  cry  of  suffering 
and  dying  men  for  help,  until  some  one  had  paid 
their  debt  to  the  uttermost  farthing.  He  did  not 
send  another  Divine  Being  to  teach,  and  labor, 
and  suffer,  and  die  for  them.  He  came  Himself. 
Oh,  how  this  truth  changes  the  whole  aspect  of 
God  towards  men  !  It  gives  to  His  love,  wisdom, 
tenderness,  and  mercy  some  meaning.  To  go 
yourself,  and  labor  and  suffer  and  die  to  help 


TO  HELP  THEM  TO  LIVE  WITH  HIM  51 


others,  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  sending 
another,  even  your  own  son.  How  near  it  brings 
the  Lord  to  us  !  How  His  kindness  and  gentle- 
ness and  faithful  labor  and  patient  suffering  for 
us  while  we  were  His  enemies  win  our  hearts 
and  draw  us  to  Him  !  He  is  no  longer  an  inac- 
cessible God.  He  has  made  the  way  to  Him  plain 
and  easy.  He  has  bridged  the  gulf  between  us 
and  Him.  His  hand  is  always  held  out  to  help 
and  bless  us;  His  heart  is  always  open  to  wel- 
come us.  I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church  clear  away  all  the 
obstructions  which  human  theories  had  placed 
between  me  and  the  Lord,  and  restore  Him  to 
my  understanding  and  my  heart  distinct  and 
glorious  in  personal  unity. 

THE  NEW  DOCTRINES  REVEAL  MAN  TO  HIMSELF. 

Turning  from  the  disclosures  which  these  doc- 
trines make  concerning  the  Lord  to  what  they 
teach  us  concerning  man,  I  find  the  same  con- 
vincing reasons  for  accepting  them.  They  do 
in  reality  reveal  man  to  himself.  They  reverse 
common  opinion  concerning  the  human  spirit. 
It  is  difficult  to  find  language  that  will  accurately 


52 


MAN  AS  A  SPIRIT  AN  ORGANIZED 


express  the  ideas  and  conceptions  which  have 
prevailed  in  the  Christian  world,  and  still  pre- 
vail to  a  great  extent,  concerning  the  human 
spirit.  They  are  vague,  undefined,  unsubstantial. 
The  spirit  is  generally  regarded  as  an  abstract 
force,  a  vital  essence,  without  distinct  form  or 
substance,  as  a  motive  power  which  sets  the  or- 
ganic forms  of  the  body  in  motion,  and  gives  life 
and  consciousness  to  them.  It  escapes  from  the 
body  at  death,  as  a  breath  from  the  lungs.  It  is 
true  that  many  of  the  ideas  concerning  it  and 
the  qualities  attributed  to  it  imply  its  substantial 
existence,  but  they  arc  so  vague  and  contradic- 
tory of  direct  teaching  that  they  leave  the  mind 
in  doubt  with  regard  to  its  form  and  substantial 
nature.  Its  existence  is  affirmed,  but  there  is  no 
knowledge  of  its  essential  nature  and  modes  of 
action.  It  is  the  prevalent  opinion,  after  all  that 
is  said  about  it,  that  no  distinct  conception  or 
certain  knowledge  concerning  it  is  possible  in 
this  life  ;  that  the  Lord  for  wise  reasons  has  with- 
held it  from  us.  With  only  this  simple  affirma- 
tion of  the  existence  of  the  spirit,  it  is  impossible 
to  enter  into  any  particulars  of  its  qualities, 
modes  of  action,  and  relation  to  other  spirits. 


BEING  IN    THE  HUMAN  FORM. 


53 


Consequently  we  cannot  make  it  a  subject  of 
distinct  thought  and  consciousness.  We  can- 
not bring  it  into  tbe  domain  of  the  reason  and 
understanding,  and  all  progress  in  knowledge 
concerning  it  is  made  impossible.  I  believe  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church  because  they  draw 
aside  the  veil  of  flesh  and  introduce  me  to  the 
spirit  itself.  They  give  me  a  distinct  and  rational 
doctrine  concerning  the  spirit,  which  satisfies  all 
the  wants  of  my  affections  and  understanding, 
and  admits  me  into  a  new  world  of  knowledge 
and  life. 

THE  SPIRIT  AN  ORGANIZED  HUMAN  FORM. 

They  teach  that  the  spirit  is  the  man  himself; 
that  it  is  in  the  human  form ;  that  this  form  is 
organized  as  a  whole,  and  in  every  least  part, 
without  and  within,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
material  body ;  that  it  has  a  heart,  lungs,  brains, 
viscera,  nerves,  arteries,  and  veins;  that  these 
organs  perform  the  same  functions  for  man  as 
a  spiritual  being  that  the  corresponding  organs 
perform  for  him  as  a  material  being ;  that  they 
sustain  the  same  relations  to  one  another,  and 
combined  constitute  the  spiritual  man  in  the 
5* 


54        THE  MIND  AND  SPIRIT  THE  SAME. 


human  form.  They  affirm,  and  in  the  most 
varied  and  conclusive  manner  demonstrate,  that 
the  human  mind  and  spirit  are  identical ;  that 
the  mind  or  spirit  is  composed  of  these  organs, 
and  that  these  organs  are  faculties  in  the  same 
sense  that  the  organs  of  the  material  hody  are 
faculties  or  forms  organized  for  the  exercise  of 
special  powers.  The  eye  is  the  organ  or  faculty 
of  seeing ;  the  ear,  of  hearing ;  the  hrain,  of 
thinking;  and  all  the  senses  are  the  means  of 
gaining  a  consciousness  of  the  forms,  relations, 
and  nature  of  material  things. 

I  know  it  is  said  that  this  simply  materializes 
the  spirit.  But  it  is  an  entire  misconception  of 
the  nature  of  spirit  that  leads  to  this  conclusion. 
The  common  opinion  is  that  the  spirit  is  without 
substance  and  has  no  form  ;  that  there  is  only 
one  substance,  and  that  material.  But  this  is 
a  mere  assumption,  which  leads  to  the  most  ab- 
surd  conclusions.  That  which  has  no  substance 
and  no  form  is  nothing.  No  idea  or  conception 
can  he  gained  of  it.  Existence  implies  both 
substance  and  form.  It  is  impossible  in  the 
nature  of  things  to  predicate  quality  or  power 
of  a  being  destitute  of  substance  and  form.  God 


SUBSTANCE  ESSENTIAL  TO  EXISTENCE.  55 


is  a  spirit.  He  is  the  Creator.  Must  He  not  be 
the  most  substantial  Being  in  the  universe  ?  If 
He  were  without  form  and  substance,  it  would 
be  absurd  to  predicate  love,  wisdom,  intelli- 
gence, power,  and  action  of  Him.  There  would 
be  no  subject  to  which  to  refer  these  attributes. 

THERE  ARE  DISTINCT  DEGREES  OF  SUBSTANCES. 

The  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  avoid  this 
absurdity  by  teaching  that  substance  exists  in 
several  distinct  degrees;  that  there  are  Divine, 
spiritual,  and  material  substances.  We  know 
that  material  substance  exists  in  distinct  planes 
or  degrees.  It  assumes  the  form  of  solid,  fluid, 
gas,  ether,  and  aura.  These  degrees  possess 
different  qualities,  have  distinct  motions,  and 
perform  different  functions  in  the  creation.  The 
principle  of  analogy  leads  directly  and  inevitably 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  can  be  spiritual 
substances  which  are  as  essential  to  spiritual 
existence  as  matter  is  to  material  objects.  We 
have  then  a  solid  basis  to  stand  on;  we  have  a 
substance  to  work  with  and  a  distinct  subject 
of  thought  and  affection.  We  are  not  com- 
pelled to  affirm  and  practically  to  deny  the  pos- 


56    SPIRITUAL  SUBSTANCE  NOT  MATERIAL. 


sibility  of  our  affirmation  at  the  same  time.  The 
spirit  is  seen  to  be  the  man  in  substantial,  human 
form,  and  the  subject  of  all  spiritual  graces 
and  delights.  Definite  relations  to  other  spirits, 
growth,  increase  in  knowledge  and  power,  re- 
generation, and  all  spiritual  faculties  and  at- 
tainments become  possible  and  can  be  referred 
to  their  subjects.  The  spirit  gives  form  to  the 
body,  casts  it  into  its  own  image,  and  uses  it  as 
an  instrument  in  perfecting  itself. 

THE  BEARING  OF  THIS  TRUTH  UPON  THE  DEATH  OP 
THE  MATERIAL  BODY  AND  THE  RESURRECTION  OF 
MAN. 

This  doctrine,  as  every  one  can  see,  presents 
in  a  new  light  that  great  step  in  man's  life  which 
we  call  death.  There  is  no  point  in  which  the 
new  doctrines  appear  in  so  strong  and  striking  a 
contrast  with  the  old  as  in  this.  The  death  of 
the  material  bod}7  has  been  almost  universally 
regarded,  especially  in  the  Christian  world,  as  the 
greatest  human  calamity.  It  is  the  severest 
penalty  known  to  human  or  Divine  law.  It  is 
the  most  dreaded  enemy  of  man ;  it  is  the  direst 
curse.    The  strong  and  the  brave  tremble  at  the 


THE  NEW  IDF. A  OF  DEATH. 


57 


thought  of  it,  the  innocent  and  the  guilty  shrink 
from  it.  It  is  regarded  as  the  most  terrible  token 
of  the  Divine  displeasure  and  the  severest  pun- 
ishment of  sin.  It  is  unnatural,  a  disturbance 
of  the  Divine  order,  an  unmitigated  curse. 
( Ihristians  as  well  as  heathen  mourn  and  refuse 
to  be  comforted  because  those  who  were  dear  to 
them  are  not.  They  clothe  their  bodies  in  black 
and  their  faces  with  sadness.  The  death  of  the 
material  body  is  practically  regarded  as  the  end 
of  distinct,  conscious,  substantial  life.  How  can 
it  be  otherwise,  when  the  spirit  is  regarded  as 
an  essence  or  force  without  form  or  substance  ? 
The  spirit  vanishes  away  as  a  vapor;  the  body 
returns  to  dust.  This  is  all  the  report  the  senses 
can  bring  to  us  from  the  departed. 

The  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  present  this 
change  in  an  entirely  new  light.  As  the  spirit  is 
the  man  in  a  substantial  human  form,  the  death 
of  the  material  body  is  caused  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  man  from  it.  The  material  body  is  only  a 
material  garment  woven  of  material  substances, 
for  his  temporary  use  in  the  material  world. 
It  bears  the  same  relation  to  the  man  himself 
that  the  chaff  bears  to  the  wheat,  or  the  worm  to 


58 


DEATH  A  STEP  IN  LIFE. 


the  beautiful  insect  that  has  burst  the  bonds  of 
the  first  stage  in  its  existence,  and  is  rejoicing  in 
the  freedom  of  its  heaven  of  air  and  light.  The 
death  of  the  body  is  no  interruption  to  man's 
life ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the  continuance  of  it. 
It  is  not  a  punishment  for  sin,  but  an  orderly 
step  in  his  progress.  It  is  not  a  token  of  the 
Lord's  displeasure,  but  a  most  striking  instance 
of  His  infinite  love  and  wisdom ;  it  is  not  the  loss 
of  any  faculty  or  capacity  for  happiness,  but  in- 
troduction to  new  and  more  excellent  conditions 
for  the  exercise  of  faculties  which  had  been  or- 
ganized in  the  womb  of  the  material  body.  It 
is  not  death.  It  is  birth  into  a  new  world,  in 
which  the  faculties  that  had  remained  quiescent, 
or  which  we  were  only  faintly  conscious  of  pos- 
sessing, gain  their  freedom  and  come  into  joyous 
life.  As  the  sparrow  emerges  from  its  shell  and 
gains  room  for  the  action  of  those  organs  which 
were  formed  in  its  narrow  house,  and  the  means 
of  their  exercise,  so  man  rises  from  the  limits  of 
a  material  life  into  a  new  world,  where  the  Lord 
has  provided  the  most  abundant  and  perfect 
means  for  the  development  of  those  faculties 
which  existed  in  embryo  in  the  material  body. 


THE  MIND  CONSTITUTES  PERSOXITV.  59 


The  death  of  the  body  is  caused  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  spirit  from  it  and  its  entrance  into 
a  new  world  and  a  new  life. 

PERSONALITY  IS  NOT  LOST  BY  THIS  CHANGE. 

But  it  is  not  new  in  being  wholly  unlike  the 
former  life.  The  man  is  not  dissipated  into  a 
formless  essence.  There  is  no  interruption  in  the 
continuity  of  his  existence.  He  is  the  same  being 
in  the  same  form.  He  possesses  the  same  faculties. 
He  sees,  hears,  talks,  acts,  and  all  his  internal 
organs  perform  the  same  functions  as  before. 
He  possesses  the  same  intelligence,  the  same 
moral  character.  He  has  not  lost  his  identity. 
He  is  a  human  being  in  the  human  form,  with 
human  affections  and  capacities  for  their  exercise 
and  the  attainment  of  their  delights.  He  is  to 
his  former  condition  in  the  material  body  as  the 
Bparrow  after  its  resurrection  is  to  its  former 
condition.  What  a  grand  and  glorious  change  ! 
The  weight  of  the  material  body  is  lifted ;  the 
fixed  and  solid  limitations  of  time  and  space  are 
obliterated  ;  the  narrow  horizons  of  a  material 
world  remove,  and  he  rises  into  new  light,  into 
new  consciousness,  into  new  fields  for  the  exer- 


60        THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD  SOLID  AND 


cise  of  his  faculties,  which  have  no  limits  but 
their  power  to  receive  and  enjoy.  Surely  the 
New  Churchman  has  every  reason  to  exclaim, 
with  exultation  and  joy,  "  0  death,  where  is  thy 
sting  ?    0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?" 

THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD. 

But  this  view  of  the  death  of  the  material 
hody  becomes  clearer  and  the  step  grander  as  we 
become  familiar  with  the  disclosures  which  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church  give  us  concerning 
the  world  into  which  man  is  introduced  by  his 
resurrection.  They  teach  us  that  it  is  a  most 
substantial  world  and  distinct  to  every  spiritual 
sense.  It  is  not  a  vacuum  where  formless 
abstractions  float  in  boundless  space.  It  is  a 
world  in  the  true  and  specific  sense  of  the  word. 
It  contains  all  the  forms  and  objects  which  con- 
stitute a  world.  It  has  mountains  and  hills  and 
valleys  ;  seas  and  rivers  and  brooks  of  water.  It 
is  diversified  and  beautified  with  every  form  of 
vegetable  and  animal  life  in  greater  variety  and 
perfection  than  can  be  found  in  any  material 
world.  They  are  made  of  spiritual  substances, 
and  exist  in  forms  of  more  delicate  and  ex- 


SUBSTANTIAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL  SENSES.  61 


quisite  beauty  than  is  possible  to  gross  matter. 
They  are  liner  in  texture  and  glow  with  more 
splendid  colors.  But  spiritual  objects  are  not 
hard  and  inflexible  like  those  composed  of  mate- 
rial substances.  They  yield  to  the  power  of  the 
will  and  become  the*  forms  and  representatives 
of  the  affections  and  thoughts  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  principle  is  the  same  that  everywhere 
prevails  among  men  in  this  world.  Every  one 
endeavors  to  surround  himself  with  objects  and 
conditions  that  are  in  harmony  with  his  tastes. 
Very  few,  however,  are  able  to  accomplish  this, 
owing  to  the  intractable  nature  of  matter  and  to 
the  limitations  of  their  means.  "\Y~e  are  com- 
pelled to  adjust  ourselves  to  our  environment, 
and  content  ourselves  with  such  means  of  com- 
fort and  pleasure  as  we  can  procure.  But  in  the 
spiritual  world  the  relation  is  reversed.  The 
dress,  the  dwelling,  the  landscape,  and  every- 
thing without  is  the  form  of  the  thoughts  and 
affections  of  the  inhabitants.  Consecpiently 
the  objects  which  surround  the  citizens  of  the 
spiritual  world  satisfy  their  tastes  and  meet  every 
want.  The  promise  is  fulfilled,  "Ye  may  ask 
what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  given  you." 

6 


62 


ORGANIZATION  OF  SOCIETIES. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD  MAN'S  ETERNAL  HOME. 

The  spiritual  world  is  the  home  of  all  who 
have  heen  born  upon  the  earth  and  passed  away 
from  it.  It  is  populous  with  thousands  of 
generations  of  men  and  women.  No  one  has 
failed  to  find  a  home  there.  But  they  are  not  all 
gathered  in  one  congregation.  The  same  law 
which  we  see  in  operation  here — a  law  of  hu- 
man nature,  according  to  which  like  seeks  lik( — 
operates  with  unfailing  certainty  there.  In  this 
world  there  arc  many  insuperable  impediments 
to  the  union  of  homogeneous  natures.  But 
there  are  none  there.  They  are  as  certain  to 
find  one  another  there  as  a  stone  thrown  into 
the  air  is  to  find  the  earth.  The  evil  seek  the 
evil ;  the  good  seek  the  good.  The  gulf  which 
separates  the  righteous  from  the  wicked  is  fixed 
in  their  own  natures,  and  can  be  crossed  only  by 
a  change  of  character.  This  law  of  union  and 
separation  operates  not  only  in  a  general  way; 
it  extends  to  the  least  particulars.  Those  who 
have  the  most  powerful  attraction  for  one 
another,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  the  strongest 
love,  are  drawn  the  nearest  together  and  come 


CONSTANT  PERFECTION  OF  SOCIETY.  G3 


into  the  most  intimate  personal  relations.  In 
this  way  families  and  societies  are  formed, 
increased,  and  perfected  by  accessions  from  the 
material  world  which  was  created  to  be  the 
seminary  of  heaven.  Is  it  possible  to  conceive 
of  a  state  of  life  more  desirable  than  this,  or 
one  more  in  harmony  with  the  infinite  goodness 
and  wisdom  of  the  Lord  ? 


MAN  A  CITIZEN  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD. 

I  am  a  Xew  Churchman  because  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  Church  disclose  to  me  this  spiritual 
world,  and  prove  by  evidence  which  seems  to  me 
to  be  incontestable  that  man  himself  is  a  spiritual 
being  in  the  human  form,  and  is  destined  by 
every  faculty  of  his  nature  and  by  every  attribute 
of  the  Divine  character  to  become  the  conscious 
inhabitant  of  a  substantial  spiritual  world.  It  is 
his  home.  He  is  a  citizen  of  that  world,  and 
is  destined  to  find  his  place  in  it  by  the  same 
immutable  law  that  the  fish  is  destined  to  the 
water  and  the  bird  to  the  air.  Translation  into 
it  is  simply  carrying  out  to  their  legitimate  con- 
sequences tendencies  and  faculties  which  we  find 


64 


HOW  MAN  FINDS  HIS  PLACE. 


in  our  own  natures,  and  which  we  see  exhibited 
in  every  movement  of  human  society. 

HIS  ENTRANCE  INTO  IT  NOT  A  PASSAGE  THROUGH 
SPACE. 

There  is  nothing  in  this  view  of  the  future  life 
which  contravenes  the  tendencies,  the  aspira- 
tions, and  the  well-established  principles  of  man's 
nature.  He  is  a  spirit  now,  and  all  the  opera- 
tions of  his  mind  take  place  according  to  spiritual 
laws.  His  transition  into  the  spiritual  world  does 
not  consist  in  being  changed  into  a  spirit,  or  in 
a  passage  through  space.  If  he  were  to  visit 
every  world  in  the  material  universe,  he  would 
come  no  nearer  to  the  spiritual  world  than  he  is 
now.  He  enters  the  spiritual  world  simply  by 
the  withdrawal  of  the  veil  of  flesh,  and  the  conse- 
quent opening  of  his  consciousness  to  the  influx 
of  spiritual  forces  into  his  spiritual  faculties. 
How  simple,  how  orderly,  and  yet  how  great  is 
the  change !  We  leave  the  material  universe 
never  to  return.  We  enter  the  spiritual  universe 
never  to  leave  it.  We  find  our  home  in  it,  and 
an  unlimited  field  and  the  amplest  means  for  the 
development  of  our  capacities  for  loving,  know- 


GROUNDS  OF  FAITH  IN  THESE  FACTS.  65 


ing,  and  enjoying,  to  which  there  are  no  assign- 
able limits  beyond  which  we  may  not  pass. 

PROOF  OF  THE  TRUTH  OF  THESE  DOCTRINES. 

But  it  may  be  said,  and  often  is  said,  This 
may  be  a  very  pleasing  belief,  but  what  evidence 
have  we  that  it  is  true  ?  Do  we  rely  on  the  testi- 
mony of  Swedenborg  for  the  truth  of  our  doc- 
trines concerning  the  spiritual  nature  of  man 
and  the  realities  of  the  spiritual  Avorld  ?  These 
are  fair  questions  and  they  demand  an  explicit 
answer.  If  they  cannot  be  answered  satisfac- 
torily, there  will  be  sufficient  grounds  for  their 
rejection,  or,  at  least,  for  a  suspension  of  faith  in 
them.  I  offer  the  following  reasons  for  implicit 
belief  in  them. 

THERE  ARE  NO  FACTS  TO  DISPROVE  THEM. 

1.  There  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  man,  nor 
in  any  human  knowledge,  nor  in  revelation,  that 
disproves  them.  Ignorance  is  no  ground  for  the 
rejection  of  any  doctrine  or  theory  upon  any 
subject.  The  common  objection  to  the  substan- 
tial and  formal  existence  of  the  human  spirit  and 

e  6* 


66        NO  GROUNDS  FOR  THEIR  DENIAL. 


of  the  spiritual  world,  is  that  we  know  nothing 
about  them,  and  that  all  definite  and  certain 
knowledge  of  them  is  impossible.  But  how  can 
any  one  he  sure  of  this  ?  It  is  impossible  in 
the  nature  of  things.  It  is  absurd  to  say  that 
nothing  more  can  be  known  because  it  has  not 
been  known  heretofore.  That  is  disproved  by 
the  experience  of  every  individual.  It  is  dis- 
proved by  every  new  discovery  in  science,  art, 
and  every  form  of  human  activity.  It  is  dis- 
proved by  the  whole  history  of  the  human  race. 
If  such  an  idea  were  universally  accepted  by 
men,  it  would  arrest  all  human  progress. 

PREVIOUS  IGNORANCE  OF  THEM  NO  OBJECTION. 

2.  The  fact  that  these  doctrines  were  not  pre- 
viously known  is  no  proof  against  their  verity. 
The  question  is  often  asked  why  they  were  not 
revealed  to  men  before  ?  The  question  might 
be  asked,  with  as  much  reason,  why  the  printing- 
press,  the  steam-engine,  the  telegraph,  all  the 
modern  sciences,  and  the  numberless  mechanical 
devices  to  bring  natural  forces  into  the  service  of 
man,  were  not  discovered  or  invented  until  the 


IGNORANCE  XO  PROOF  AGAINST  THEM.  67 


present  time.  The  answer  is  :  Men  were  not  in 
an  intellectual  condition  to  discover  and  under- 
stand the  secret  and  universal  laws  of  nature, 
and  they  did  not  need  the  services  which  her 
mighty  forces  now  render  to  them.  "What  could 
the  Indian  have  done  with  the  steam-engine,  the 
railroad,  and  the  factory  ?  The  question  resolves 
itself  into  the  simple  one,  Why  must  the  infant 
wait  many  years  for  the  strength,  intelligence, 
and  general  capacities  of  manhood  ?  Unman 
ignorance  is  no  objection  against  the  truth  of 
any  theory  or  doctrine,  nor  the  fact  that  it  was 
not  previously  known.  There  must  be  the  first 
time. 

These  are  negative  grounds  for  the  accept- 
ance of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church.  But 
there  are  affirmative  reasons  of  the  strongest 
character. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE. 

3.  It  is  often  averred  that  there  is  no  testi- 
mony of  eye-witnesses  or  personal  experience 
to  the  existence  of  spiritual  beings  in  a  sub- 
stantial human  form  and  to  a  spiritual  world 
adapted  to  their  nature  and  wants.     No  one  has 


68  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


risen  from  the  dead  and  come  back  to  report 
what  lies  beyond  the  grave,  it  is  said.  This  is 
not  true.  There  are  many  well-authenticated  in- 
stances, some  of  which  are  given  in  the  Bible, 
of  the  return  to  earth  of  those  who  had  passed 
away  many  years  before.  There  are  many  in- 
stances of  those  still  living  who  have  gained 
entrance  into  the  spiritual  world,  have  seen  its 
objects,  conversed  with  its  inhabitants  who  were 
seen  to  be  substantial  human  beings,  and  who 
have  reported  what  they  saw  and  heard.  The 
whole  book  of  Revelation  is  a  record  of  what 
John  saw  when  he  was  in  the  isle  of  Patmos  as 
to  his  material  body,  but  in  the  spiritual  world 
as  to  his  spiritual  body.  The  case  of  the  apostle 
Paul,  who  was  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven 
and  heard  things  impossible  to  express  in  human 
language,  is  another  one  in  point.  The  women 
at  the  sepulchre,  John  the  Baptist's  father,  the 
patriarchs  and  prophets,  and  men  in  all  ages, 
give  abundant  testimony  of  the  existence  and 
substantial  reality  of  spiritual  beings  and  of  a 
spiritual  world.  The  whole  of  revelation  is 
based  on  the  fact  of  the  personal  existence  of 
spiritual  beings  and  of  a  substantial  spiritual 


WHY  IT  IS  NOT  ADMITTED. 


69 


world.  Take  them  away  and  the  Bible  would 
be  the  most  unmeaning  of  books. 

WHY  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REVELATION  IS  NOT 
RECEIVED. 

But  this  testimony  is  not  received,  even  by 
Christians  who  profess  to  believe  in  the  Bible. 
"What  Father  Abraham  said  to  Dives  is  proved 
to  be  true  by  its  general  practical  denial.  "  If 
they  believe  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither 
will  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the 
dead."  These  intromissions  into  the  spiritual 
world  are  called  visions,  hallucinations,  the  mis- 
taking subjective  fancies  for  objective  realities. 
The  reluctance  with  which  Christians  admit  the 
reality  of  these  openings  of  the  spiritual  senses, 
is  caused  in  a  great  measure  by  the  prevalent 
opinions  concerning  the  spirit  and  the  spiritual 
world.  From  the  point  of  view  that  the  spirit 
is  a  formless  essence,  instead  of  an  intelligent 
human  being,  I  do  not  see  how  we  can  come 
to  any  other  conclusion  than  that  a  conscious 
communication  with  spiritual  beings,  or  knowl- 
edge of  a  spiritual  world,  must  be  a  delusion. 


70     THE  LORD'S  PURPOSE  AND  METHODS. 


THE  TRUE  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

But  the  point  of  view  is  not  the  true  one. 
The  Lord,  not  the  imperfections  and  fallacies 
of  the  natural  senses,  is  the  immutable  centre, 
lie  is  the  embodiment  of  power.  He  is  the  im- 
mutable  suhstance.  He  is  the  uncreated  source 
of  life,  love,  wisdom,  and  intelligence.  As  Swe- 
denborg  says,  "Infinite  things  in  Him  are  dis- 
tinctly one."  All  forms  and  forces  exist  in  Him 
in  their  origin  and  potency.  As  substances 
recede  from  Him  as  their  fountain,  they  lose 
some  of  their  special  qualities  and  power.  They 
are  grosser  and  less  capable  of  being  moulded 
into  the  fine  and  delicate  organs  of  the  spiritual 
body.  Finally,  they  become  fixed  and  hard  in 
the  rock  and  metal.  Imperfection  increases  with 
distance  from  the  Source  of  life.  Every  step 
in  the  descent  is  attended  with  loss  of  power  and 
distinct  substantial  form.  Every  step  in  ascent 
from  the  insensate,  unorganized  rock  towards 
Him,  is  advance  into  finer  substance  and  more 
excellent  qualities  and  more  noble  and  exquisite 
form.  Every  change  in  the  material  world  and 
every  truth  of  revelation  testifies  in  favor  of  the 


THE  INFALLIBLE  TEST  OF  TRUTH.  71 


substantial  perfections  of  the  human  spirit  in 
form,  organization,  and  personality,  and  to  the 
objective  existence  of  a  spiritual  world  as  solid  to 
the  spiritual  foot  and  as  real  to  the  touch  of  the 
spiritual  hand  and  as  distinct  and  real  to  the  spir- 
itual senses  as  this  world  is  to  the  natural  senses. 

If  the  ideas,  or  the  absence  of  knowledge, 
which  have  prevailed  in  the  churches  concerning 
spirits  and  the  spiritual  world,  are  true,  Sweden- 
borg's  disclosures  can  have  no  basis  in  fact.  But 
if  common  opinion  is  correct,  other  and  much 
more  important  results  must  logically  follow. 
All  that  is  preached  in  sermons  and  published 
in  books  about  the  future  life  of  man  must  be 
a  creation  of  fancy.  It  can  have  no  basis  in 
certain  knowledge,  for  the  possibility  of  such 
knowledge  is  denied.  The  common  theories 
and  opinions  destroy  themselves,  as  well  as  the 
disclosures  of  Swedenborg.  But  if  the  substan- 
tial and  conscious  existence  of  the  spirit  sepa- 
rate from  the  material  body  is  admitted,  one  of 
the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  admission  of  Swe- 
denborg's  disclosures  concerning  the  mode  of  ex- 
istence and  the  state  of  society  in  the  spiritual 
world  will  be  removed. 


72 


S  WEDENBORG'S  TESTIMONY  IN 


REASONS  FOR  BELIEF  IN  SWEDENBORO'S  TESTIMONY. 

But  arc  they  to  be  accepted  on  his  authority 
alone  ?  By  no  means.  His  authority  has  great 
weight,  hut  no  more  than  it  deserves.  He  was 
a  man  of  undoubted  veracity.  His  whole  life 
hears  testimony  to  his  unswerving  loyalty  to  the 
truth.  It  was  his  constant  aim  to  discover  the 
truth ;  to  see  it  in  its  own  form ;  to  hear  it  speak 
in  its  own  voice,  and  tell  its  own  story.  He  was 
as  docile  as  a  child  to  learn  the  truth,  and  was 
gifted  with  a  keen  and  sagacious  intellectual 
power,  which  could  penetrate  the  illusions  of 
appearances  and  detect  the  presence  of  immu- 
table law  in  all  the  operations  of  nature.  He  was 
patient  and  faithful  in  bis  investigations  of  the 
substances  and  forces  of  nature,  and  a  humble 
and  devout  believer  in  God.  If  there  ever  w  as  a 
man  who  could  not  be  deluded  by  appearances, 
or  seduced  by  any  selfish  motives,  Swedenborg 
was  that  man.  His  testimony  is  trustworthy  to 
tbe  last  degree.  It  will  stand  against  that  of  any 
man  or  any  number  of  men.  If  our  faith  is  to 
rest  on  authority,  as  the  faith  of  the  Christian  to 
a  great  extent  does  in  the  doctrines  of  religion 


HARMONY  WITH  DIVINE  TRUTH.  73 


generally  accepted,  his  testimony  is  worthy  of  ;ill 
credence.  Any  statement  he  makes  demands 
affirmative  consideration  and  helief. 

TRUE   GROUNDS    FOR    ACCEPTING    HIS  DIS- 
CLOSURES. 

But  he  does  not  ask  any  one  to  accept  a  single 
fact  he  discloses  merely  on  his  authority,  though 
he  repeatedly  affirms  in  the  most  solemn  manner 
that  the  doctrines  he  teaches  are  true,  and  that 
he  lias  given  a  true  report  of  what  he  heard  and 
saw  in  the  spiritual  world.  He  does  not  ask  any 
one  to  shut  his  eyes  or  reason,  and  accept  the 
doctrines  and  disclosures  in  a  blind  faith.  On 
the  contrary,  he  counsels  every  one  to  open  his 
eyes,  to  consult  the  Lord  in  His  Word,  to  exercise 
the  understanding  and  learn  the  rational  grounds 
of  the  doctrines,  and  he  helps  every  one  in  a 
remarkahle  manner  to  see  and  understand  for 
himself.  He  fortifies  every  position  with  the 
sanctions  of  immutable  principles.  He  advances 
from  the  known  to- the  unknown,  and  shows  how 
every  step  is  a  natural  result  of  former  ones. 
There  is  no  weak  point  in  his  logic.  His  entire 
system,  as  a  whole  and  in  every  least  part,  is 


74      SWEDENBORO'S  WRITINGS  IN  ACCORD 


organic  and  related  like  the  organs  in  the 
material  body. 

Those  who  suppose  that  his  writings  consist 
mainly  of  visions,  lahor  under  the  gravest  mis- 
conception. His  reports  of  what  he  saw  and 
heard  in  the  spiritual  world  form  but  a  small 
fraction  of  his  works.  His  doctrines  are  not 
based  on  them.  They  are  only  illustrations  and 
confirmations  of  immutable  principles  operating 
according  to  immutable  law. 

IN  HARMONY   WITH   ALL  WE   KNOW   OP  MAN'S 
NATURE. 

The  laws  which  are  declared  to  govern  life  in 
the  spiritual  world  are  entirely  in  harmony  with 
all  we  know  of  the  nature  of  the  human  mind 
as  manifested  in  our  own  experience  and  in  the 
history  of  human  life  in  this  world.  Take  the 
principles  of  association  in  the  spiritual  world  as 
an  example.  Swedenborg  says  the  wicked  are 
separated  from  the  righteous  by  the  mutual  re- 
pulsion of  their  own  natures ;  that  the  pure  are 
drawn  together  into  societies  by  mutual  attrac- 
tion, and  that  this  attraction  operates  in  the 
most  specific  and  particular  manner.    Is  not  that 


WITH  UNIVERSAL  PRINCIPLES. 


a  universal  law  of  human  nature  ?  Do  we  not 
know  that  it  is  a  principle  of  our  own  minds? 
Does  it  not  operate  in  the  real  association  and 
union  of  men  in  this  world  ?  It  is  true  that  there 
are  many  impediments  to  the  union  of  congenial 
minds,  growing  out  of  selfish  and  worldly  prin- 
ciples, an  artificial  life,  and  the  obstacles  of  time 
and  space.  But  suppose  these  ohstacles  were 
removed,  would  not  persons  of  similar  tastes  and 
purposes — would  not  homogeneous  natures  come 
together  and  find  their  happiness  in  the  harmo- 
nies of  associated  life  ?  Every  one  who  has  any 
true  knowledge  of  human  nature  knows  that 
such  a  result  would  follow  as  surely  as  that 
water  will  seek  its  own  level.  There  are  no  such 
ohstacles  in  the  spiritual  world  to  the  association 
of  homogeneous  minds,  and  consequently  they 
find  one  another  and  dwell  together. 

So  in  every  instance.  The  laws  of  spiritual 
life  are  the  same  in  the  spiritual  world  that  they 
arc  in  this  world.  Man  is  not  changed  into 
something  else  by  a  change  of  worlds.  The 
laws  of  mental  action  and  development  are  the 
same  in  the  spiritual  world  that  they  are  in  this 
world.    The  only  change  consists  in  more  favor- 


76    IMPOSSIBLE  TO  INVENT  SUCH  A  SYSTEM. 


able  conditions  for  association  and  action.  The 
mind  is  treed  from  the  impediments  of  a  material 
body  and  the  resistance  of  dead  matter. 

SUMMARY  OF  THE  GROUNDS  OF  ACCEPTING 

swedenborg's  DISCLOSURES. 

To  sum  up  the  grounds  of  my  belief  that 
Swedenborg  has  given  a  true  report  of  the 
spiritual  world  and  the  state  of  man  after  the 
death  of  the  material  body  : 

1.  I  believe  his  spiritual  senses  were  opened, 
as  he  avers,  because  the  possibility  of  such  a 
state  is  clearly  revealed  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures; 
and  I  cannot  conceive  it  possible  for  any  man, 
sane  or  insane,  to  invent  so  coherent  and  par- 
ticular an  account  of  the  vast  number  of  human 
beings  who  have  been  born  on  the  earth  and 
passed  away  from  it;  an  account  that  is  in  per- 
fect harmony  with  well-known  laws  of  man's 
nature,  and  fully  in  accordance  with  the  revela- 
tions which  the  Lord  has  made  in  the  Bible. 

2.  I  believe  the  statements  because,  while 
they  are  in  harmony  with  all  we  know  of  the 
laws  of  spiritual  existence,  there  are  no  facts 
and  no  principles  of  natural  or  spiritual  life,  and 


TRUTH  SWEDENBORGS  SOLE  AIM. 


77 


no  revelations  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  that 
tend  in  the  least  to  show  their  falsity  or  dis- 
credit them.  The  testimony  of  ignorance  is  not 
allowed  in  any  court. 

swedexborg's  life  a  proof  of  his  claims. 

3.  I  helieve  his  teachings  because  Swedenborg 
was  a  truthful  man,  a  devout  lover  of  the  truth 
which  he  sought  with  unswerving  fidelity  during 
his  whole  life.  lie  had  no  motives  for  deceiving 
others,  and  he  was  too  sagacious  and  wise  to  be 
deceived  by  any  illusions  of  the  senses,  or  be- 
wildered by  confounding  fancies  with  facts.  The 
gradual  maimer  in  which  his  spiritual  conscious- 
ness was  opened  while  he  was  writing  one  of  his 
profoundest  works  on  the  animal  kingdom,  and 
the  coherent  and  rational  account  he  gives  of  it, 
conclusively  show  that  he  had  not  lost  the  balance 
and  rational  control  of  his  faculties.  The  works 
which  he  wrote  at  the  time  that  the  process  of 
the  opening  of  his  spiritual  senses  was  going  on 
and  everything  he  wrote  afterwards  give  indubi- 
table evidence  of  the  soundness  of  his  under- 
standing and  of  the  strength  and  orderly  action 
of  all  his  intellectual  faculties. 


78       PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE  ESSENTIAL 


A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD  CAN  BE 
GAINED  ONLY  BY  EXPERIENCE. 

4.  I  believe  his  disclosures  because  there  is  no 
other  way  in  which  a  satisfactory  knowledge  of 
the  spiritual  world  and  the  condition  of  its  vast 
population  can  be  gained  than  by  personal  ex- 
perience. It  is  the  way  all  knowledge  is  gained. 
Open  intromission  into  the  spiritual  world  and 
personal  acquaintance  with  its  inhabitants  and 
modes  of  life  is  the  only  way  in  which  such  knowl- 
edge could  be  obtained.  He  is  perfectly  rational 
and  consistent,  therefore,  in  constantly  asserting 
that  he  acquired  it  in  this  way.  If  he  had  ad- 
vanced his  disclosures  as  theories  or  opinions  of 
his  own,  they  would  have  been  open  to  the  same 
objections  as  the  theories  and  fancies  of  others. 
Swedenborg  claims  to  have  done  precisely  what 
men  demand  as  the  only  trustworthy  basis  of  a 
belief  in  the  substantial  existence  of  the  spiritual 
world  and  of  man  as  a  spiritual  being.  He 
claims  that  his  spiritual  and  his  natural  senses 
were  open  at  the  same  time,  so  that  he  could  re- 
port to  men  what  he  saw  and  heard  from  spirits. 
He  was  not  in  a  state  of  trance.    His  natural 


TO  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD.  79 


faculties  were  not  asleep.  He  could  write  with 
his  own  hand  and  with  his  own  natural  intelli- 
gence what  he  saw  and  heard  in  the  spiritual 
world,  in  the  same  way  that  he  could  express  in 
natural  language  what  he  saw  and  heard  in  this 
world.  He  was  conseiously  in  both  worlds  at 
the  same  time.  He  could  go  and  come  from 
one  world  to  the  other  by  the  opening  or  closing 
of  his  spiritual  senses.  It  was  not  a  passage 
through  space  :  it  consisted  in  a  change  of  state 
in  himself,  and  was  a  normal  process  of  which 
many  instances  are  recorded  in  the  Bible. 

SWEDEXBORG  GIVES  EVERY  TEST  OF  TIIE  TRUTH 
OF  HIS  CLAIMS  DEMANDED. 

This  is  precisely  what  men  have  demanded. 
Let  some  one  come  back  and  report  what  he  has 
seen  and  heard,  and  we  will  believe  what  he  says. 
Swedenborg  did  this  for  twenty-seven  years. 
All  that  he  says  is  coherent  with  itself  and  with 
the  universal  laws  of  man's  spiritual  nature,  so 
far  as  we  have  any  knowledge  of  them.  He 
reports  nothing  contrary  to  what  the  Lord  has 
revealed  in  His  Word.   On  the  contrary,  Sweden- 


80      SWEDENBORQ  MEETS  ALL  RATIONAL 


borg's  disclosures  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  the 
visions  of  the  prophets  and  on  many  of  the  dark  - 
problems  of  revelation.  They  do  not  contain  a 
syllable  that  is  contrary  to  the  whole  teaching 
of  Holy  Scripture,  and  they  reveal  in  clear  and 
rational  light  and  most  attractive  and  specific 
forms  the  fact  of  man's  continued,  personal  exist- 
ence after  the  dissolution  of  the  material  body. 
They  reveal  a  substantial  spiritual  world,  in 
which  he  is  to  find  his  home  and  the  most  ample 
means  for  progress  in  intelligence,  wisdom,  and 
happiness.  He  has  fulfilled  all  the  demands  of 
ignorance,  incredulity,  scepticism,  and  scientific 
illumination,  and  yet  men  will  not  believe ;  they 
will  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  investigate  his 
disclosures  and  their  claims  to  be  true.  On  the 
contrary,  he  is  regarded  as  insane ;  as  honest, 
perhaps,  but  the  innocent  subject  of  illusions;  as 
mistaking  subjective  fancies  for  objective  or  real 
existences.  Men  stand  afar  off  from  any  true 
knowledge  of  his  writings,  and  greet  him  as  his 
brethren  greeted  Joseph  :  "  Behold,  this  dreamer 
cometh;"  and  they  cast  him  into  the  pit  of  their 
ignorance  and  unbelief  to  perish,  so  far  as  re- 
gards his  influence  upon  them. 


DEMANDS  FOR  PROOF  OF  HIS  STATEMENTS.  81 


UNJUST  TO  HIM  AND  DISASTROUS  TO  MEN. 

This  is  a  cruel  injustice  to  the  man,  and  a 
most  disastrous  rejection  of  clear  and  rational 
light  on  the  most  important  questions  of  man's 
nature  and  destiny.  I  cannot  do  it.  His  dis- 
closures come  to  me  with  a  power  which  I  can- 
not and  have  no  desire  to  resist.  They  satisfy 
my  reason ;  they  confirm  my  belief  in  the  good- 
ness and  wisdom  of  the  Lord,  and  they  open  be- 
fore me  the  grandest  prospects  for  the  attainment 
of  intelligence,  power,  and  happiness.  They 
satisfy  every  demand  of  my  nature  with  regard 
to  the  continuance  of  my  being  in  a  substantial 
human  form,  in  a  substantial  spiritual  world.  I 
accept  them  without  a  shadow  of  doubt.  They 
have  given  me  the  power  to  say  with  undoubting 
conviction,  I  am  immortal.  I  am  to  preserve 
my  consciousness  and  identity  not  only  untouched 
but  increased  and  increasing  forever. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REVELATION. 

But  there  are  other,  and,  if  possible,  stronger 
reasons  for  full  acceptance  and  unwavering  belief 
in  the  truths  revealed  in  the  writings  of  Swcden- 
/ 


82  REVELATION  CONFIRMS  THEM. 


borg.  I  do  not  rely  upon  his  testimony  alone, 
trustworthy  as  I  believe  it  to  be.  He  gives  us 
ampler  and  more  powerful  evidence  than  the  tes- 
timony of  any  man.  He  gives  us  the  testimony 
of  the  Lord  Himself  in  two  forms  which  corrobo- 
rate each  other.  We  have  the  testimony  of  the 
Lord's  Word,  and  of  His  works,  and  every  fact 
is  confirmed  by  the  evidence  of  these  two  wit- 
nesses. Both  are  in  perfect  accord  with  each 
other.  Both  give  the  same  testimony  in  every 
particular.  Swedenborg  has  given  us  a  perfect 
system  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures ;  a  system 
that  applies  to  every  passage  and  every  word ;  a 
system  that  is  scientific  in  the  strictest  sense  of 
the  term,  and  as  independent  of  the  interpreter 
as  scientific  truth  of  every  degree  is  of  the  scien- 
tist. My  present  purpose  will  allow  me  to  give 
only  a  general  idea  of  it,  but  sufficient,  I  hope, 
to  be  an  additional  justification  of  my  faith  in 
the  truth  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church. 

THE  BIBLE  A  PERFECT  BOOK. 

1.  This  system  of  exegesis  is  based  on  the 
nature  of  the  Author  of  Revelation,  on  the  nature 
of  man  to  whom  the  revelation  is  made  and  of 


A  DIVINE  REVELATION  PERFECT.  83 


their  relations  to  each  other,  and  on  the  nature 
of  the  language  by  which  it  is  conveyed.  The 
author,  by  general  acceptance,  is  a  Divine  Being. 
He  is  the  author  of  creation,  and  a  Being  of  infi- 
nite wisdom.  It  follows,  as  effect  from  cause,  that 
the  revelation  He  has  given  to  men  must  be  per- 
fect in  form,  in  method,  and  adequate  to  every 
demand  which  those  to  whom  it  is  given  can 
make  upon  it.  A  Being  of  infinite  wisdom  and 
intelligence  could  not  be  the  author  of  an  im- 
perfect book.  It  must  be  applicable  to  every 
condition  of  the  human  mind,  to  the  lowest  and 
the  highest  intelligence.  It  must  contain  no 
unmeaning  terms ;  it  must  contain  infinite  truth. 

TWO  REVELATIONS  ANSWERING  TO  EACH  OTHER. 

2.  The  Lord  has  made  two  revelations  of 
Himself.  The  first  was  "made  by  His  works. 
The  material  universe,  with  all  that  is  contained 
in  its  three  kingdoms,  is  the  Divine  love  and 
wisdom  embodied  and  revealed  in  outward  form. 
"  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
firmament  showeth  His  handiwork.  Day  unto 
day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  showeth 
knowledge.    There  is  no  language  where  their 


84 


NATURE  A  PERFECT  LANGUAGE. 


voice  is  not  heard."  Every  one  is  known  by 
his  works.  This  is  a  universal  truth,  and  ap- 
plies to  the  Lord  as  well  as  to  man.  Every 
human  language  has  its  origin  and  meaning  in 
this  Divine  language.  It  is  a  natural  language. 
It  has  its  ground  in  the  nature  of  God.  It  is  a 
perfect  language,  because  it  comes  from  a  perfect 
origin,  by  perfect  means.  It  is  a  language  that 
can  be  understood.  Before  man  dulled  his  per- 
ceptions by  evil,  and  closed  his  eyes  to  its  forms 
and  his  ears  to  its  harmonies,  he  did  understand 
it,  and  it  was  the  means  of  converse  between  the 
Lord  and  man.  When  man  had  fallen  out  of 
the  harmonies  of  the  Divine  order  and  had  lost 
the  ability  of  understanding  the  spiritual  and 
Divine  meaning  of  this  perfect  and  universal 
language,  the  Lord  revealed  Himself  to  man  in 
another  way. 

THE  REVELATION  OF  HIS  WORD  BASED  ON  HIS 
WORKS. 

3.  He  gave  him  a  written  revelation,  which 
was  based  upon  the  first,  and  made  by  means  of 
it,  and  which  would  have  been  impossible  unless 
the  created  language  had  preceded  it.    This  new 


ADAPTED  TO  EVERY  STATE. 


85 


revelation  is  an  adaptation  of  the  old  one  to  the 
low  natural  condition  and  special  wants  of  men. 
Ir  was  not  made  at  once,  but  continued  through 
thousands  of  years,  as  the  wants  of  men  required. 
The  fundamental  principles  of  Divine  truth  were 
engraved  on  tables  of  stone  ;  its  truths  were  em- 
bodied in  composed  and  real  histories ;  in  para- 
bles and  precepts;  in  prophetic  visions  and 
song;  and  finally  in  the  record  of  the  Lord's 
incarnation,  His  instruction,  His  example,  suf- 
fering, death,  and  resurrection.  But  in  all  these 
forms  of  expression,  the  spoken  and  the  written 
word,  the  sound  and  the  letter,  were  signs  of  the 
unwritten  and  created  Word,  which  retained  their 
original  meaning.  The  vocal  and  written  lan- 
guage was  only  a  means  adapted  to  the  special 
office  of  communicating  to  men  the  created 
Word  in  a  form  adapted  to  the  state  of  their 
intelligence.  Every  object  of  nature  and  action 
of  men  retained  the  same  meaning  it  had  in  the 
beginning,  before  there  was  auy  vocal  or  written 
language.  Its  application  to  natural  events  and 
human  history  did  not  annul  its  universal  mean- 
ing.   It  only  added  a  special  one. 

8 


86 


SWEDENBORG  SAW  BOTH  SIDES. 


SWEDENBORG  SHOWS  THE  RELATION  BETWEEN  THEM. 

4.  Swedenborg,  by  his  intromission  into  the 
spiritual  world,  and  the  illumination  of  liis  un- 
derstanding by  spiritual  light,  while  in  full  pos- 
session of  his  natural  senses,  was  enabled  to 
see  the  relation  between  spiritual  causes  and  the 
material  forms  in  which  they  are  embodied.  In 
other  words,  he  was  able  to  see  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  natural  objects  and  human  actions, 
and  restore  it  to  men.  According  to  this  law 
every  natural  object  is  the  form  and  expression 
of  some  affection  or  truth  in  the  Divine  mind, 
and  consequently  in  the  human  mind,  as  man 
was  created  in  the  image  of  God.  The  principle 
is  seen  and  aeknowledged  in  all  human  actions. 
The  only  knowledge  we  have  of  the  affections, 
thoughts,  and  purposes  of  others  is  gained  by 
their  manifestation  in  natural  forms  and  actions. 
Tears  and  sighs  and  wailing  are  the  normal 
effects  of  sorrow.  They  are  the  natural  forms 
which  grief  and  sorrow  assume.  And  every  one 
without  any  instruction  knows  what  they  mean. 
According  to  the  same  principle,  smiles  and 
laughter  are  the  effect  and  natural  expression  of 


NATURE  A  DIVINE  LANGUAGE.  87 


delight  and  joy.  These  are  examples  of  a  uni- 
versal mode  of  expression.  Every  action  of  the 
material  body  is  the  effect  of  a  spiritual  cause ; 
of  some  state  or  action  of  the  intellect  and  the 
affections.  This  is  well  understood  and  univer- 
sally acknowledged. 

THE  MATERIAL  UNIVERSE  THE  EMBODIMENT  OP 
THE  DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES. 

Precisely  in  the  same  way  the  material  uni- 
verse, including  man  and  the  three  kingdoms  of 
nature  in  all  the  motions,  cmalities,  and  activi- 
ties of  matter,  is  the  form  and  infinitely  varied 
expression  of  the  love,  intelligence,  and  power 
of  the  Lord.  Every  mineral  and  plant,  every 
animal  and  human  being,  is  a  manifestation  and 
expression  of  the  affections  and  thoughts  and 
purposes  of  the  Lord,  and  an  example  of  His 
methods  of  carrying  His  purposes  into  effect. 
They  are  a  created  language,  and  there  is  no 
language  where  their  voice  is  not  heard.  Ac- 
cording to  this  inhei-ent  and  universal  relation 
between  nature  and  spirit,  the  creation  and  the 
Creator,  every  natural  object  corresponds  to  and 
represents  some  quality  in  the  Divine  nature  and 


88    CORRESPONDENCE  OF  NATURE  TO  MIND. 


in  man's  nature.  This  relation  Swedenborg  calls 
the  Science  of  Correspondences.  He  regards  it 
as  the  science  of  sciences,  which  it  certainly 
must  be  if  what  he  says  of  it  is  true ;  for  it  is 
the  language  in  which  the  Lord  speaks  to  us 
both  in  His  Word  and  in  His  works,  and  they 
both  have  the  same  meaning. 

NATURE  AND  SPIRIT  ESSENTIALLY  RELATED. 

5.  Swedenborg  shows  that  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures are  written  according  to  this  relation  be- 
tween natural  and  spiritual  things,  and  that  this 
relation  exists  in  every  part  and  extends  to  every 
word.  And,  more  wonderful  still,  not  only  have 
single  objects  this  spiritual  meaning,  but  they  are 
so  connected  and  related  that  there  is  a  continu- 
ous and  orderly  connection  between  every  least 
part  and  the  whole,  and  the  whole  and  every 
least  part.  According  to  this  idea  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  are  a  continuous,  orderly,  and  com- 
plete unfolding  of  Divine  and  spiritual  truth, 
or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  of  the  laws  of  the 
Divine  and  of  human  life,  from  beginning  to 
end,  from  their  inmost  principles  to  their  out- 
most effects.    Disconnected  and  unrelated  as 


NATURE  THE  INSTRUMENT  OF  REVELATION.  89 


they  appear  in  the  letter,  in  their  inner  mean- 
ing the  Scriptures  are  organic  and  form  a  unit 
like  the  organs  of  the  material  body. 

SWEDENBORO'S  MAIN  WORK  CONSISTS  IN  DEMON- 
STRATING THIS  RELATION. 

By  far  the  largest  part  of  Swedenborg's  writ- 
ings is  devoted  to  teaching  the  inner,  spiritual 
meaning  of  the  Bible.  lie  gives  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  Genesis,  Exodus,  and  the  Revelation, 
or,  to  express  the  same  idea  in  a  different  form, 
he  has  translated  the  natural  objects  and  events 
recorded  in  Scripture  into  the  language  of  the 
•  spirit.  He  has  done  this  not  merely  by  giving 
the  general  meaning,  as  commentators  do,  by 
inference :  he  has  translated  these  portions  of 
Scripture  chapter  by  chapter,  verse  by  verse, 
word  by  word.  He  has  shown  that  even  the 
letters  have  a  specific  meaning,  and  that  this  is 
the  reason  for  the  change  of  some  names,  as 
Abram  to  Abraham.  In  this  work  he  has  quoted 
from  every  part  of  the  "Word  and  nearly  the 
whole  of  it.  He  gives  the  precise  meaning  of 
numerals,  of  the  most  common  objects  and  ac- 
tions, and  of  the  wildest  visions  of  the  prophets. 
8* 


90    THE  RELATION  OF  NATURE  AND  SPIRIT. 


He  descends  to  the  smallest  particulars.  He 
examines  the  Word  with  the  microscope  as  well 
as  with  the  telescope  of  immutable  law,  and 
shows  the  perfect  harmony  between  the  least 
things  and  the  largest. 

HE  FOLLOWS  THIS  LAW  OF  INTERPRETATION  WITH 
UNSWERVING  FIDELITY. 

He  adheres  to  the  general  meaning  of  each 
act  and  ohject  in  every  place  and  in  every  rela- 
tion; and,  when  there  is  any  variation  in  the 
meaning,  he  shows  why  and  how  it  is  acquired. 
The  principle  of  interpretation  is  never  departed 
from  in  any  of  his  writings.  He  shows  that 
there  are  no  unmeaning  words,  no  vain  repe- 
titions, no  real  contradictions  in  the  Sacred 
Seriptui'es,  as  it  is  impossible  there  could  be 
if  a  Being  of  infinite  wisdom  is  their  author. 
There  is  infinite  variety,  as  there  is  in  the  created 
Word,  but  no  contradiction,  no  changes  or  forms 
without  a  sufficient  and  a  special  cause.  As 
examples  of  the  special  meaning  of  every  form 
and  change,  he  shows  why  different  names  are 
applied  to  the  Divine  Being :  that  each  one 
is  used  with  absolute  precision  to  express  a 


UNIVERSAL  AND  CONSISTENT.  91 


specific  idea.  Such  a  translation  would  be  im- 
possible in  the  nature  of  things,  if  there  were  no 
inherent  relation  between  the  natural  object  and 
the  spiritual  prototype.  No  human  intelligence 
could  invent  such  a  system.  The  statement  of 
the  principle,  and  its  application  in  giving  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  almost  the  whole  of  Scrip- 
ture, embracing  every  peculiar  form  of  expres- 
sion, amount  to  a  demonstration  of  its  truth. 

BY  THIS  SYSTEM  OF  INTERPRETATION  THE  BIBLE 
IS  SEEX  TO  BE  THE  WORD  OF  THE  LORD. 

But  there  is  still  further,  and,  if  possible, 
more  conclusive  evidence  that  the  Scriptures 
are  written  according  to  this  relation  between 
natural  and  spiritual  things.  By  the  application 
of  this  science  the  veil  of  natural  objects, 
actions,  and  events  is  removed,  and  the  Divine 
truths  they  were  employed  to  reveal  appear  in 
their  distinct  and  genuine  forms.  The  change  is 
like  that  caused  in  a  grand  and  beautiful  land- 
scape by  the  lifting  of  a  dense  mist  from  it.  As 
the  air  grows  clear  illusions  are  dispelled  ;  veiled 
forms  stand  out  in  a  distinct  light.  The  obscure 
becomes  plain,  the  horizon  is  indefinitely  ex- 


92 


THE  TRUE  KEY  F6R  THE 


tended,  and  innumerable  tonus  and  colors  that, 
before  were  invisible  are  distinctly  revealed  in 
their  essential  relations.  There  is  order  instead 
of  confusion.  In  a  word,  a  new  world  is  re- 
vealed. So  it  is  with  the  Word  of  the  Lord 
when  the  cloud  of  the  letter  becomes  illuminated 
with  the  glory  of  the  spirit.  Every  apparent 
contradiction  is  reconciled;  every  obscure  and 
apparently  trivial  word  is  seen  to  have  a  distinct 
and  important  meaning ;  every  plant  and  animal, 
every  insect  and  worm,  even  the  shadows  on 
the  hills  and  the  dust  in  the  street,  become 
exponents  of  principles  in  man's  nature,  and 
reveal  the  hidden  laws  of  his  spiritual  life.  The 
Bible  is  a  new  book.  Like  our  Lord  on  the 
mountain,  it  is  transfigured  before  us,  and,  like 
His  face,  it  shines  as  the  sun,  and  the  garment 
of  the  letter  is  white  as  the  light.  The  Lord  is 
revealed  to  us  in  His  true  form  and  character, 
and  the  way  is  opened  for  communication  and 
conjunction  with  Him.  Life  and  immortality 
are  brought  to  light. 

I  believe,  without  any  shadow  of  doubt,  that 
Swedenborg,  by  Divine  assistance,  has  given  to 
men  the  Key  which  unlocks  the  seven  seals  of 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.  93 


the  Word  of  the  Lord  ;  that  by  its  application  a 
true  and  satisfactory  knowledge  of  God,  of  the 
spiritual  world,  and  of  man's  spiritual  nature 
and  the  means  of  its  continual  development  can 
he  obtained  from  the  Lord  Himself.  I  believe  it 
because  it  accords  with  all  true  knowledge  of  the 
material  world,  with  my  highest  conceptions  of 
the  Lord's  love  and  wisdom,  and  what  must  be 
His  purpose  in  the  creation  of  man.  I  believe  it 
because  in  every  step  I  take  in  examining  the 
Lord's  Word  and  works  I  find  nothing  to  excite 
doubt,  but  increasing  confirmations  of  the  truth 
that  the  Word  has,  above  and  entirely  distinct 
from  its  natural  meaning,  a  spiritual  meaning 
which  the  letter  was  given  to  express. 

I  know  how  absurd  and  impossible  such  a 
doctrine  seems  to  those  who  have  not  examined 
the  grounds  of  it  in  the  nature  of  man  and  the 
Lord.  I  know  they  call  it  fancy  and  regard 
it  with  contempt  and  aversion.  But  I  know 
equally  well  that  its  truth  can  be  substantiated 
by  facts  that  arc  universally  accepted ;  that  it  is 
in  the  line  of  all  true  science,  and  will  bear  any 
test  a  knowledge  of  nature  or  spirit  can  apply  to 
it.    It  satisfies  every  demand  which  my  reason 


94         REVELATION  FINAL  AUTHORITY. 


can  make  upon  a  revelation  and  every  want  of 
my  heart.  It  makes  the  Sacred  Scriptures  the 
Word  of  God,  the  embodiment  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, the  fountain  of  spiritual  truth,  the  supreme 
and  final  authority,  and  in  every  respect  worthy 
of  their  Divine  Author.  I  more  than  believe 
them.  They  come  to  every  faculty  of  my  intel- 
lect and  every  good  affection  of  my  heart  with 
a  clearness  of  light  and  a  power  of  love  that 
cause  an  irresistible  conviction  that  they  have 
their  origin  in  the  Divine  nature  and  are  a  reve- 
lation of  the  Lord  to  man  and  of  man  to  himself. 

THE    DOCTRINES    OF    THE    NEW    CHURCH  ARE 
AFFIRMATIVE. 

I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  Church  are  affirmative.  They  are 
not  suppositions  or  guesses.  They  do  not  lead 
to  negations  and  end  in  denials.  They  are  not 
based  on  human  opinion.  They  are  statements 
of  the  laws  of  the  Divine  order  which  originate 
in  the  Lord.  Their  fine  lines  traverse  the  ma- 
terial universe  and  become  organized  in  man. 
These  universal  truths  speak  with  authority;  but 
it  is  not  the  authority  of  man.    It  is  the  authority 


THE  NEW  TRUTHS  GIVE  FREEDOM.  95 


of  the  Lord  Himself,  expressed  in  every  form 
and  force  in  the  universe,  to  which  every  true 
principle  in  man  responds.  This  gives  them  an 
immense  power,  not  merely  over,  but  in  and 
through,  every  mind  that  accepts  them.  They 
carry  their  authority  with  them.  They  are  their 
own  testimony,  and  they  need  no  other. 

THEY  GIVE  FREEDOM  OF  THOUGHT. 

But  they  not  only  carry  authority  and  convic- 
tion with  them ;  they  also  give  freedom  to  the 
mind.  They  not  only  free  it  from  ignorance 
and  old  errors,  but  they  indefinitely  enlarge  the 
horizon  of  thought  and  multiply  the  fields  of 
truth  we  can  traverse.  A  doctrine  or  truth  that 
is  received  by  faith  alone  on  authority,  without 
being  understood,  does  not  admit  of  extension ; 
it  is  not  organic;  it  has  no  particulars.  Xo 
door  opens  into  light.  Within  are  mystery  and 
darkness.  There  is  no  room  for  progress.  But 
this  is  not  the  case  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
New  Church.  They  are  formed  of  living  truths. 
As  the  material  body,  which,  viewed  outwardly, 
presents  one  object,  but  when  penetrated  is  found 
to  be  composed  of  innumerable  vessels,  single 


96  TRUE  DOCTRINE  ORGANIC. 


and  compounded,  and  traversed  by  arteries,  veins, 
and  nerves,  which  extend  to  every  minutest  point 
in  the  whole  system,  keeping  all  the  parts  dis- 
tinct from  one  another,  and  binding  all  together 
into  a  beautiful  order  and  unity,  so  a  true  doc- 
trine of  the  Lord  or  man  or  nature  is  organic. 
It  is  composed  of  general  and  universal  truths, 
which  traverse  it  in  every  direction,  opening  out 
in  infinite  ways,  but  definitely  related  to  every 
specific  truth,  forming  a  perfect  order  and  a 
beautiful  whole,  and  offering  to  the  intelligent 
mind  the  richest  fields  for  the  investigation  and 
discovery  of  new  truths.  The  mind  moves  in 
freedom,  because  it  follows  the  paths  of  a  Divine 
order  which  open  in  every  direction.  "While 
every  step  is  clear,  intelligent,  and  satisfactory, 
we  come  to  no  limit  on  which  is  inscribed,  "  Thus 
far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther."  The  freedom 
which  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  give  is 
not  that  of  a  roving  fancy.  It  is  a  freedom  of 
law  and  order. 

But  they  give  us  a  new  and  higher  kind  of 
freedom.  It  is  something  more  than  freedom 
from  restraint.  They  introduce  us  into  a  dis- 
tinctly new  world  of  thought  and  life.  They 


A  NEW  KIND  OF  FREEDOM. 


97 


open  the  doors  into  the  wide  realms  of  man's 
spiritual  nature  and  the  spiritual  world,  and  pro- 
vide us  with  the  means  of  moving  freely  in  the 
paths  which  lead  to  true  wisdom  and  the  Lord. 
They  give  us  the  power  of  communing  with  men 
on  the  interior  plane  of  their  nature.  They  call 
a  distinctly  new  class  of  faculties  into  play,  and 
enable  us  to  move  easily  in  the  paths  of  spiritual 
order.  Truth  is  the  way,  the  path  of  light.  The 
truth  gives  freedom  and  the  power  to  penetrate 
into  the  deepest  mysteries. 

THE  NEW  TRUTHS  SOLVE  OLD  PROBLEMS. 

There  are  many  dark  enigmas  which  have  re- 
sisted every  effort  of  science  and  philosophy  and 
revelation,  as  men  have  understood  it,  to  solve 
them ;  and  the  faith  of  many  good  men  in  the 
love  and  wisdom  of  God  has  been  sorely  tried, 
and  the  belief  of  multitudes  has  been  destroyed 
or  made  impossible  by  their  inability  to  penetrate 
the  mysteries  of  sin  and  sorrow.  The  difficulty 
of  solving  these  problems  does  not  consist  so 
much  in  the  problems  themselves  as  in  the  want 
of  higher  truths,  which  throw  light  on  their 
mysteries  and  reveal  their  causes  and  nature. 


98      FALSE  PREMISES,  FALSE  CONCLUSIONS. 


Having  no  clear  and  rational  knowledge  of 
man's  spiritual  nature,  and  of  the  existence  of 
a  substantial  spiritual  world,  he  has  been  re- 
garded from  a  natural  point  of  view.  His 
interests  have  been  estimated  by  selfish  and 
worldly  standards.  The  essential  constitutents 
of  man's  nature  being  unknown,  false  conclu- 
sions concerning  his  permanent  and  highest 
good  were  inevitable.  The  temporary  has  been 
mistaken  for  the  eternal,  the  shadow  for  the 
substance,  death  for  life,  evil  for  good,  and 
falsity  for  truth.  Every  error  in  the  factors 
necessitates  error  in  the  product. 

WHY  LIFE  IS  AN  ENIGMA. 

Life  is  an  enigma  because  we  see  ordy  a  small 
fraction  of  it,  and  practically  mistake  that  frac- 
tion for  the  whole  of  it.  To  estimate  its  purpose 
and  value,  its  forces  and  possessions,  by  what 
comes  within  the  range  of  our  natural  faculties, 
is  as  absurd,  and  must  lead  to  as  false  conclu- 
sions as  to  measure  the  value  and  qualities 
of  a  seed  by  itself,  or  to  limit  the  purpose  and 
possibilities  of  an  egg  by  the  substances  which 
compose  it.     Man's  life  in  this  world  is  only 


A   TRUE  POINT  OF  VIEW  ESSENTIAL.  99 


the  first  step  in  his  existence.  If  we  do  not 
know  what  the  next  step  is,  and  do  not  see  any 
relation  between  the  first  and  the  second  step, 
we  have  no  means  of  judging  of  the  purpose 
and  qualities  of  the  first.  We  cannot  under- 
stand anything  until  we  can  look  down  upon  it 
from  a  point  of  view  higher  than  itself.  The 
real  beauty,  order,  and  purpose  of  this  world  can 
be  seen  only  in  the  light  of  the  spiritual  world. 
The  real  use  and  nature  of  the  material  body, 
and  the  infinite  skill  with  which  it  is  organized 
and  adapted  to  all  the  substances  and  forces  of 
nature  to  secure  the  end  for  which  it  was  created, 
can  be  known  and  comprehended  only  when  its 
forms  and  forces  and  delicate  mechanism  are 
regarded  from  the  spirit.  The  existence  of  sin 
and  suffering  can  be  understood  only  when  we 
have  some  true  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  man 
and  of  the  Lord's  purpose  in  his  creation. 

THE  NEW  DOCTRINES  GIVE  THIS  KNOWLEDGE. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  but  with  despair 
of  receiving  a  satisfactory  answer,  why  the 
Lord  suffered  sin  to  enter  the  world;  why  He 
permits  want  and  pain  and  sorrow;  since,  for 


100    THE  LORD  NOT  THE  AUTHOR  OF  EVIL. 


some  unknown  reason,  they  have  entered  and 
touched  with  torment  every  human  being,  why 
He  does  not  banish  them  by  the  exercise  of  His 
omnipotent  power.  These  questions  arise  from 
the  belief  or  supposition  that  the  Lord  is  in  some 
way  responsible  for  the  existence  of  sin  and  suf- 
fering, and  that  He  could  annihilate  them  by  a 
word,  if  He  would  utter  it.  But  this  supposi- 
tion originates  in  a  total  misconception  of  the 
Divine  character  and  power,  and  of  the  Lord's 
purpose  in  creating  human  beings. 

If  the  Lord  is  a  being  of  infinite  love,  as  most 
Christians  acknowledge  in  words,  He  could  have 
no  other  motive  in  creating  intelligent  beings 
than  to  make  them  as  happy  as  possible  by  com- 
municating His  love  to  them.  If  He  is  a  being 
of  infinite  wisdom,  it  would  be  impossible  for 
Him  to  provide  any  other  than  the  wisest  means 
and  methods  of  carrying  the  purposes  of  His 
love  into  effect.  He  could  not  create  evil,  be- 
cause that  would  defeat  His  intentions.  He 
could  not  permit  it  if  there  were  any  possible 
means  of  preventing  it.  We  cannot  suppose 
that  evil  crept  into  the  creation  unnoticed  by 
Omniscience,  or  that  the  Lord  would  have  per- 


FREEDOM  MAKES  ERROR  POSSIBLE.  101 


mitted  it  if  it  could  have  been  prevented  without 
defeating  His  final  end  in  the  creation  of  man. 

WHY  SIN  WAS  MADE  POSSIBLE. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked  why  the  Lord 
did  not  endow  man  with  a  nature  that  would 
render  it  impossible  for  him  to  sin.  The  an- 
swer is  not  difficult  to  find.  He  has  created  a 
multitude  of  things  that  cannot  sin  or  suffer. 
The  material  universe  has  no  power  to  violate 
one  of  its  own  laws.  The  rock  cannot  suffer. 
The  plant  has  no  power  to  feel  pain,  however 
much  it  may  be  multilated.  Beast  and  bird 
and  insect  cannot  sin.  Sin  is  a  violation  of  a 
spiritual  law,  and  an  animal  has  no  spiritual 
nature.  If  the  Lord  had  created  minerals  and 
plants  only,  there  would  have  been  no  evil,  no 
sin,  and  no  suffering,  because  there  would  have 
been  no  possibility  of  sensation. 

SENSATION  AN  ESSENTIAL  FACTOR  OF  SUFFERING. 

But  He  was  not  content  with  inanimate  and 
insensate  things.  He  took  a  higher  step,  and 
created  a  kingdom  of  living  creatures,  and  en- 
dowed them  with  the  power  of  sensation  and 

9* 


102    SENSATION  ESSENTIAL  TO  AN  ANIMAL. 


freedom  of  determination.  But  with  the  capacity 
of  sensation  inevitably  comes  the  possibility  of 
suffering.  Animals  suffer  from  cold  and  heat, 
from  hunger  and  thirst,  from  fear  and  injury  to 
their  physical  organization.  The  faculties  and 
the  only  ones  which  distinguish  the  animal  from 
the  plant,  and  give  the  power  of  conscious- 
ness, make  suffering  possible.  Does  any  one 
ask  why  the  Creator  gave  the  power  of  sensa- 
tion to  the  animal  ?  The  necessary  answer  is, 
He  would  have  failed  in  His  purpose  of  creating 
an  animal  if  He  had  not.  He  would  have  left 
out  the  essential  constituent  of  the  animal  nature. 
The  product  might  be  a  plant  or  a  crystal,  but 
it  could  not  have  been  an  animal. 

THE  SAME  PRINCIPLE  APPLIES  TO  MAN. 

According  to  His  own  declaration,  it  was  the 
Lord's  purpose  to  take  another  distinct  step  in 
creation,  and  bring  into  existence  a  being  who 
should  be  the  crown  and  glory  of  His  love,  wis- 
dom, and  power.  "  Let  us  make  man,"  He  said 
to  everything  He  had  created.  The  mineral,  the 
plant,  the  animal,  were  steps  to  this  grand  result. 
"Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  like- 


FREE  WILL  A  HUMAN  QUALITY.  103 


ness."  "  So  God  created  man  in  His  own  image, 
in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him."  The 
Creator  finited  the  attributes  of  His  own  nature 
in  man.  He  gave  him  a  moral  and  a  spiritual 
nature.  He  endowed  him  with  the  capacity  of 
receiving  His  love  and  reciprocating  it.  He  en- 
riched his  nature  with  intellectual  faculties,  which 
gave  him  the  power  of  knowing  the  Author  of 
his  heing,  of  understanding  his  relations  to  Him, 
and  of  seeing  His  wisdom,  power,  glory,  and 
goodness  in  His  works.  These  faculties  also 
possess  the  supreme  excellence  of  indefinite  en- 
largement and  increase  in  delicate  power.  There 
is  no  assignable  limit  to  their  development  in 
any  direction,  heyond  which  they  may  not  pass. 

FREE  WILL  AN  ESSENTIAL  QUALITY  OF  LOVE. 

But  with  the  power  of  loving  and  knowing 
comes  freedom  of  choice  according  to  knowl- 
edge, and  the  liability  to  err  in  choosing.  This 
was  inevitable.  It  inhered  in  the  essential  nature 
of  love.  Love  cannot  be  forced.  It  cannot  be 
held  by  fast  lines.  It  must  be  free.  It  must 
act  as  of  itself,  and  according  to  what  seems  to 
it  to  be  good.    To  make  it  impossible  for  man 


104    MAN  A  FAILURE  WITHOUT  FREE  WILL. 


to  be  seduced  by  tbe  appearance  of  good  and  led 
into  sin,  moral  freedom  must  be  eliminated  from 
his  nature.  But  that  would  destroy  the  essen- 
tial human  principle.  Deprived  of  spiritual  free- 
dom, he  would  not  be  a  man.  He  would  be 
nothing-  more  than  a  beast.  The  Creator  would 
fail  in  His  purpose  to  create  a  man  in  His  own 
image. 

WHAT,  THEN,  SHALL  HE  DO? 

Shall  He  give  up  the  attempt  to  complete  the 
purpose  for  which  all  other  things  were  made 
to  be  instrumental,  because  there  is  a  possibility 
that  some  men,  deluded  by  appearances,  may 
make  a  wrong  choice  and  suffer  for  their  error  ? 
Shall  He  fail  to  create  a  spiritual  universe  of 
heavens  and  fill  them  with  ever-increasing,  num- 
bers of  intelligent  human  beings,  whose  hearts 
are  glowing  with  love,  whose  understandings  are 
illuminated  with  the  glory  of  Divine  truth,  and 
whose  whole  life  is  one  of  serene  peace  and 
exquisite  joy,  because  some,  through  their  own 
choice  and  folly,  may  fail  of  it  ?  Could  a  being 
of  infinite .  love  and  wisdom  be  content  with  a 
universe  of  dead  matter,  of  plants  which  could 
have  no  use,  and  of  animals  which  are  incapable 


POWER  CAN  HARM  AS  WELL  AS  HELP.  105 


of  spiritual  knowledge  and  affection  ?  Could  He 
give  up  the  purpose  of  creating  intelligent  beings 
who  could  reciprocate  His  love  and  become  illu- 
minated by  His  wisdom,  and  have  no  companion- 
ship but  plants  and  brutes  ?  Surely  there  can 
be  but  one  answer  to  these  questions.  To  stop 
creation  with  rocks,  plants,  and  beasts,  because 
the  endowment  of  a  higher  nature  necessitated 
the  possibility  of  sin  and  suffering,  would  be  more 
absurd  than  to  refrain  from  creating  heat,  which 
is  the  motive  power  of  matter,  for  fear  of  a  con- 
flagration. 

WHY  SIN  WAS  NOT  PREVENTED. 

The  answer  which  the  New  Church  gives  to 
the  question,  why  the  Lord  did  not  prevent  sin 
and  suffering  from  gaining  entrance  into  the 
universe,  is  this :  Because  a  free  and  rational 
mind,  capable  of  loving  and  knowing  and  acting 
in  freedom,  and  endowed  with  the  supreme 
attribute  of  personality,  is  impossible  without 
possessing  qualities  capable  of  being  perverted. 
Freedom  implies  the  ability  to  feel,  think,  and 
act  wrong  as  well  as  right.  Power  of  all  kinds 
can  harm  as  well  as  help,  can  destroy  as  well  as 
create. 


106     ABSURDITY  OF  SIMILAR  QUESTIONS. 


SIMILAR  QUESTIONS  OF  THE  SAME  KIND. 

Reduced  to  its  last  analysis,  the  question  why 
the  Lord  did  not  endow  man  with  a  nature  that 
was  incapable  of  sin  and  suffering  is  of  the  same 
kind  as  a  multitude  of  similar  questions  which 
might  be  asked,  whose  absurdity  is  self-evident. 
As,  for  example  :  Why  the  Lord  did  not  create 
bones  that  would  not  break  nor  decay :  Why  He 
did  not  so  organize  human  flesh  that  it  could  not 
be  cut  nor  torn,  or  make  nerves  that  were  in- 
capable of  a  painful  sensation.  The  answer  is, 
that  such  a  creation  is  impossible  in  the  nature 
of  things.  The  real  question  is  not  why  sin  and 
suffering  should  be  permitted,  but  whether  all 
the  higher  orders  of  being  capable  of  sensation, 
delight,  and  happiness  should  be  created,  with 
the  possibility,  or  even  the  certainty,  that  these 
noble  faculties,  which  constitute  man's  essential 
nature,  would  be  perverted  and  become  the 
cause  of  suffering,  or  whether  the  Lord  should 
abandon  the  work  of  creation  with  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  This  would,  indeed,  be  "  beginning 
to  build  and  not  able  to  finish."  When  truly 
understood,  sin  and  suffering  give  us  no  grounds 


SUFFERIXQ  NOT  WHOLLY  EVIL.  107 


for  doubting  the  love  and  wisdom  and  infinite 
mercy  of  the  Lord.  The  more  we  know  of 
them,  the  more  clearly  we  shall  see  that  what 
the  Creator  said  is  forever  true :  " And  God  saw 
everything  that  He  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  very 
good." 

PAIN  AND  SORROW  NOT  EVILS. 

I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  the  new 
truths  show  that  pain  and  suffering  of  every 
kind  are  not  necessarily  an  evil.  They  have  a 
most  important  use.  The  need  of  this  use  does 
aot  appear  until  man  steps  out  of  the  true  order 
of  his  life.  Then  suffering  serves  as  a  warning 
against  danger  and  becomes  a  restraint  from 
going  further  astray.  Man  has  a  spiritual  mind 
distinct  from  his  natural  mind.  This  spiritual 
mind  distinguishes  him  from  the  animal  and 
constitutes  his  supreme  excellence.  Its  interests 
are  paramount  to  all  others.  Whatever  protects 
them  from  harm  or  tends  to  their  development 
is  good.  Every  influence  that  injures  their  del- 
icate organs,  weakens  their  power,  or  disturbs 
the  harmony  of  their  action,  is  hostile  to  man's 
highest  interests.  For  this  reason  a  natural  loss 
may  become  a  spiritual  gain,  by  moderating  too 


108  FAILURE  OFTEN  A  BLESSING. 


ardent  desires  for  a  merely  temporal  good. 
Failure  in  our  efforts  to  gain  a  desired  position, 
want  of  success  in  making  money,  and  the  de- 
feat of  our  plans  to  secure  worldly  prosperity, 
may  show  us  the  uncertainty  of  all  natural  pos- 
sessions, and  lead  us  to  turn  our  thoughts  and 
affections  to  our  spiritual  and  eternal  interests. 
Our  natural  affections  are  first  developed,  and, 
unless  they  are  restrained,  they  gain  the  mastery 
over  the  higher  faculties  and  suppress  them. 
They  are  like  the  plant  which  exhausts  its  power 
in  hearing  leaves.  For  this  reason  men  often 
gain  a  more  precious  good  hy  the  loss  of  property 
than  by  its  possession.  For  the  same  reason 
poverty,  privation,  failure,  hardship,  and  pain, 
may  he  more  useful  to  men  than  wealth,  ease, 
power,  and  freedom  from  all  physical  suffering 
or  natural  disappointment. 

THE  REASON  WHY  THE  LORD  PERMITS  PAIN. 

Here  we  find  a  satisfactory  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion why  the  Lord  permits  so  much  want  and 
pain  and  sorrow  in  the  world.  He  regards 
primarily  the  supreme  and  eternal  interests  of 
every  human  being.    Whatever  tends  to  secure 


THE  LORD  SEEKS  MAN'S  HIGHEST  GOOD.  109 


these  is  a  blessing.  Every  natural  attainment, 
possession,  or  delight  that  is  harmful  to  these 
interests  is  a  curse  which  must  he  averted.  In 
the  pure  and  constant  light  of  the  Lord's  merci- 
ful purpose  of  good  to  men,  the  illusions  of  the 
senses  and  the  shadows  of  natural  evils  which 
obscure  our  real  good  are  dispelled ;  the  contra- 
dictions of  this  life  are  solved,  and  its  apparent 
inequalities  are  adjusted.  The  reason,  the  under- 
standing, and  the  heart  respond  to  the  declara- 
tion, "  The  Lord  is  good  to  all,  and  His  tender 
mercies  are  over  all  His  works." 

THE  NEW  CHURCH  HONORS  LABOR. 

I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  all  its  doc- 
trines and  principles  dignify  and  ennoble  useful 
labor.  The  opinion  has  prevailed  that  the  doc- 
trines of  the  New  Church  are  pleasing  and  fan- 
ciful illusions,  but  destitute  of  any  practical  value. 
Nothing,  however,  could  be  further  from  the  truth. 
They  are  directly  and  personally  practical  in 
every  particular.  "  Man,"  says  Swedenborg,  "  is 
a  form  of  use,  and  every  one  becomes  a  man 
according  to  the  degree  of  his  use."  "  Use  is  the 
Lord's  purpose  in  everything  He  has  created." 

10 


110     THE  LORD  HONORS  USEFUL  LABOR. 


It  is  not  possible  that  a  being  of  infinite  love 
and  wisdom  could  remain  idle  or  act  without  a 
purpose  of  doing  good.  Our  Lord  said,  "  My 
Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work."  "  Every- 
thing," says  Swedenborg,  "  is  created  from  use, 
by  use,  and  for  use." 

LABOR  NOT  A  CURSE. 

The  Church  has  taught  that  labor  was  sent 
upon  man  as  a  punishment  for  sin,  and  conse- 
quently that  it  is  to  be  avoided.  This  doctrine 
the  world  has  readily  accepted.  It  is  the  com- 
mon opinion  that  labor,  more  especially  useful 
labor,  is  a  curse,  that  there  is  degradation  in  it. 

Men  and  women  who  are  not  compelled  by 
their  necessities  to  labor  in  any  useful  occupation 
are  regarded  as  fortunate.  But  such  was  not  the 
example  our  Lord  set  us  while  He  dwelt  in  the 
flesh.  Such  is  not  the  teaching  of  His  Word 
or  His  works.  Labor  is  a  blessing.  Idleness  is 
a  curse.  Labor  is  a  means  of  being  useful  to 
others,  and  it  becomes  a  blessing  to  the  laborer 
according  to  the  motives  he  puts  into  his  work. 
All  forms  of  useful  labor  become  noble  when  it 
is  performed  from  a  noble  purpose.    Labor  is 


USEFUL  LABOR  A  BLESSING. 


Ill 


the  means  by  which  true  charity  is  exercised  and 
a  heavenly  character  formed.  No  one  can  be 
regenerated  who  does  not  render  some  useful 
service  to  men. 

USEFUL  LABOR  CONDUCIVE  TO  HAPPINESS. 

This  view  of  the  use  and  purpose  of  labor 
dignifies  and  ennobles  it.  It  lifts  the  burden 
and  the  curse  from  it.  If  the  doctrine  were 
generally  accepted  and  understood,  it  would 
change  the  whole  aspect  of  industrial  life.  Be- 
neath the  wet  brow,  the  callous  hand,  and  the 
soiled  garments,  men  would  see  the  noble  pur- 
pose, the  faithful  work,  and  the  tender  regard 
for  the  good  of  others.  Through  the  smoke  and 
din  of  the  shop,  the  darkness  of  the  mine,  and 
the  dust  of  the  field,  they  would  recognize  the 
pure  motive  and  the  bright  face  of  charity. 
They  would  find  faithful  servants  in  the  kitchen 
and  store  and  factory ;  faithful  servants  as  master 
and  mistress ;  faithful  workers  among  poor  and 
rich,  and  in  every  occupation.  The  noblest  in 
nature  and  the  highest  in  station,  when  judged 
by  heavenly  standards,  would  be  those  who  per- 
formed their  use  from  love  to  the  Lord  and  man. 


112 


LIGHT  REVEALS  DANGER. 


THE  TRUE  LIGHT  REVEALS  EVIL. 

I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  in  the  light 
of  the  new  truths  I  can  see  as  in  a  perfect  mirror 
the  diseased  and  perverted  state  of  the  natural 
mind,  and  how  utterly  hopeless  the  possibility  of 
its  restoration  to  spiritual  health  without  the  con- 
stant protection  and  aid  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  I  see  as  clearly  as  the  sun  in  the 
heavens  that,  in  and  of  myself,  I  have  no  more 
power  to  overcome  evil  and  restore  my  diseased 
natural  mind  to  spiritual  health  than  I  had  in 
the  first  instance  to  create  myself.  But  I  see 
with  equal  clearness  that  the  Lord  is  ready  to 
imbue  my  dormant  spiritual  affections  with  the 
life  of  His  love,  and  to  illuminate  my  darkened 
understanding  with  the  light  of  His  truth,  so  far 
as  I  shun  evils  as  sins  against  Him,  and  keep  the 
commandments  which  are  the  laws  of  spiritual 
life.  He  will  never  fail  to  do  His  part  of  the 
work  of  regeneration,  and  He  will  do  everything 
in  His  power  to  encourage  and  assist  me  in 
doing  mine.  "The  Lord  is  on  my  side;  I  will 
not  fear :  what  can  man  do  unto  me  ?"  In  this 
hope  and  help  I  rest. 


THE  NEW  TRUTHS  MAKE  A  NEW  WORLD.  113 


THE  NEW  TRUTHS  MAKE  A  NEW  EARTH. 

I  am  a  Xew  Churchman  because  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  have  made  and  are  constantly 
making  a  new  world  of  this  earth.  In  the  light 
of  its  truths  ever}-  object  in  it  is  new.  The  rock 
and  the  dead  mould,  the  plant  and  animal,  the 
fish  in  the  sea  and  the  bird  in  the  air,  planet  and 
star  and  sun  and  moon,  insect  and  flower, — all, 
singly  and  in  their  relations  to  one  another  and 
to  man,  have  a  new  meaning.  They  are  not  the 
"works  of  nature :"  they  are  the  works  of  the 
Lord.  They  are  not  things  which  He  once 
created  and  cast  from  His  hand,  and  which  no 
longer  have  any  vital  connection  with  Him.  He 
is  creating  them  now.  "  Sustentation  is  per- 
petual creation."  "  They  are  new  every  morn- 
ing and  fresh  every  evening."  The  Lord  is  a 
living,  a  constant  Creator.  I  see  what  He  is 
doing  to-day.  I  see  His  love  and  wisdom  and 
constant  care  for  me  and  for  all  His  children  in 
all  the  forms  and  forces  of  the  earth.  I  see  His 
methods  of  creating  and  providing  for  human 
wants  and  of  blessing  His  children,  in  the  beauty 
of  the  flower,  the  growing  fruit,  and  the  ripen- 

A  10* 


112 


LIGHT  REVEALS  DANGER. 


THE  TRUE  LIGHT  REVEALS  EVIL. 

I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  in  the  light 
of  the  new  truths  I  can  see  as  in  a  perfect  mirror 
the  diseased  and  perverted  state  of  the  natural 
mind,  and  how  utterly  hopeless  the  possibility  of 
its  restoration  to  spiritual  health  without  the  con- 
stant protection  and  aid  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  I  see  as  clearly  as  the  sun  in  the 
heavens  that,  in  and  of  myself,  I  have  no  more 
power  to  overcome  evil  and  restore  my  diseased 
natural  mind  to  spiritual  health  than  I  had  in 
the  first  instance  to  create  myself.  But  I  see 
with  equal  clearness  that  the  Lord  is  ready  to 
imbue  my  dormant  spiritual  affections  with  the 
life  of  His  love,  and  to  illuminate  my  darkened 
understanding'  with  the  light  of  His  truth,  so  far 
as  I  shun  evils  as  sins  against  Him,  and  keep  the 
commandments  which  are  the  laws  of  spiritual 
life.  He  will  never  fail  to  do  His  part  of  the 
work  of  regeneration,  and  He  will  do  everything 
in  His  power  to  encourage  and  assist  me  in 
doing  mine.  "  The  Lord  is  on  my  side ;  I  will 
not  fear  :  what  can  man  do  unto  me  ?"  In  this 
hope  and  help  I  rest. 


THE  SEW  TRUTHS  MAKE  A  SEW  WOULD.  113 


THE  SEW  TRUTHS  MAKE  A  XEW  EAETH. 

I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  have  made  and  are  constantly 
making  a  new  world  of  this  earth.  In  the  light 
of  its  truths  every  object  in  it  is  new.  The  rock 
and  the  dead  mould,  the  plant  and  animal,  the 
fish  in  the  sea  and  the  bird  in  the  air,  planet  and 
star  and  sun  and  moon,  insect  and  flower, — all, 
singly  and  in  their  relations  to  one  another  and 
to  man,  have  a  new  meaning.  They  are  not  the 
'■  works  of  nature :"  they  are  the  works  of  the 
Lord.  They  are  not  things  which  He  once 
created  and  cast  from  His  hand,  and  which  no 
longer  have  any  vital  connection  with  Him.  He 
is  creating  them  now.  "  Sustentation  is  per- 
petual creation."  "  They  are  new  every  morn- 
ing and  fresh  every  evening."  The  Lord  is  a 
living,  a  constant  Creator.  I  see  what  He  is 
doing  to-day.  I  see  His  love  and  wisdom  and 
constant  care  for  me  and  for  all  His  children  in 
all  the  forms  and  forces  of  the  earth.  I  see  His 
methods  of  creating  and  providing  for  human 
wants  and  of  blessing  His  children,  in  the  beauty 
of  the  flower,  the  growing  fruit,  and  the  ripen- 

A  10* 


114    ALL  THINGS  HAVE  A  NEW  MEANING. 


ing  grain.  He  comes  near  to  me ;  He  speaks 
to  me  in  a  voice  which  I  can  understand.  He 
besets  me  behind  and  before,  and  lays  His  al- 
mighty but  gentle  hand  upon  me,  to  lead  me 
by  the  love  which  He  gives  me  to  heaven  and. 
Himself. 

THIS  LIFE  HAS  A  NEW  MEANING. 

Life  in  this  world  has  a  new  purpose,  a  new 
interest,  and  new  significance.  How  changed 
everything  is !  Where  once  all  was  darkness, 
now  there  is  light.  Where  I  could  see  nothing 
but  complexity  and  confusion,  now  I  find  order 
and  movement  along  the  paths  of  immutable 
law.  I  find  myself  a  part  of  that  order,  and  mov- 
ing along  its  perfect  lines.  Everything  is  fluent 
and  yet  stable  as  the  rock.  Men  are  in  perfect 
freedom,  and  yet  are  the  subjects  of  immutable 
law.  This  life  is  complete  in  itself,  and  yet  it  is 
only  the  first  step  in  an  endless  journey.  The 
means  of  happiness  are  so  rich  and  varied  and 
beautiful  and  substantial  that  it  seems  to  the 
natural  mind  as  though  nothing  was  wanting  but 
abundance  and  leisure  to  enjoy  it.  And  yet  all 
material  possessions  are  coarse  and  crude  and 


THE  LORD  IS  GOOD  TO  ALL. 


115 


poor,  and  only  the  faint  prophecy  of  what  the 
Lord  has  in  store  for  us.  He  makes  every  step 
in  life  as  easy  and  pleasant  as  possible  in  itself, 
and  the  means  of  progress  to  a  higher  and  a 
better  good.  He  restrains  us  in  love  and  tender 
mercy  when  we  wander  from  the  true  path,  and 
rewards  ns  with  joy  and  peace  when  ,  we  walk 
in  His  ways.  By  these  kind,  loving,  and  wise 
means  He  wins  and  leads  us  to  trust  in  Him  at 
all  times,  in  adversity  as  well  as  in  prosperity, 
knowing  that  He  is  always  on  our  side,  and 
doing  everything  in  His  power  to  save  us  from 
sin  and  sorrow,  and  to  bestow  upon  us  the 
richest  blessings  He  can  induce  us  to  accept 
from  His  hands.  Infinite  love  woos  us,  infinite 
wisdom  guides  us.  "We  rest  on  the  Rock  of  Ages. 

I  am  a  New  Churchman  because  every  move- 
ment in  the  progress  of  the  human  race  is  a  step 
towards  the  principles  of  the  New  Church  which 
were  published  to  the  world  more  than  a  century 
ago.  The  great  currents  in  the  ocean  of  thought 
are  moving  towards  them.  The  rejection  of  old 
dogmas,  the  disintegration  of  old  systems  of  the- 
ology from  which  all  life  has  departed,  and  the 
loud  call  for  the  revision  of  creeds  are  prepara- 


116  EVERY  STEP  CONFIRMS  THE  NEW  TRUTHS. 


tory  steps  to  the  reception  of  the  new  truths, 
and  were  distinctly  foretold  by  Swedenborg. 
Every  step  in  natural  science  is  in  the  direction 
of  the  laws  of  spiritual  life  disclosed  in  the  writ- 
ings of  the  New  Church.  The  discovery  that  all 
material  substances  and  forces  are  inherently 
related  was  a  distinct  and  most  important  step 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  material  universe.  It 
was  a  step  from  faith  to  knowledge,  from  facts 
to  principles,  from  appearances  to  substances  in 
their  true  form  and  order. 

THE  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  A  SPIRITUAL 
SCIENCE. 

This  is  precisely  the  step  which  the  New 
Church  has  taken  in  the  knowledge  of  spiritual 
truth.  Its  doctrines  are  a  spiritual  science.  They 
are  a  statement  of  the  laws  of  spiritual  substances, 
forms,  and  forces,  as  they  exist  in  the  spiritual 
world  and  in  man's  spiritual  body.  They  con- 
tain the  laws  and  means  and  processes  of  its 
organization — its  physiology.  They  describe  the 
causes  which  disturb  its  order  and  pervert  its 
forms ;  the  means  of  curing  its  diseases  and  de- 
veloping its  faculties.    They  state  with  scientific 


THE  NEW  DOCTRINES  SCIENTIFIC.  117 


precision  its  relations  to  the  Lord,  the  Source  of 
its  life  and  power,  and  to  all  the  forces  and  influ- 
ences which  tend  to  retard  or  promote  its  devel- 
opment. In  a  word,  these  doctrines  are  a  plain, 
specific,  scientific  statement  of  spiritual  laws 
and  Divine  laws,  in  the  same  sense  that  a  true 
physiology  contains  the  laws  of  physical  life. 
They  are  a  true  psychology  and  theology, — that 
is,  they  are  the  science,  the  related  and  ordered 
truths  or  laws  of  man's  spiritual  nature  and 
of  the  Lord's  nature.  They  will  extend  man's 
knowledge  of  spiritual  suhstances  and  laws  be- 
yond  any  assignable  limits ;  they  will  effect  the 
same  beneficent  changes  in  moral  and  spiritual 
life  that  a  scientific  knowledge  of  material  sub- 
stances and  forces  has  wrought  on  the  material 
plane. 

THIS  SCIENCE  ITS  OWN  WITNESS. 

As  this  science  is  learned  and  understood,  it 
carries  with  it  the  same  conviction  of  its  truth 
that  a  knowledge  of  natural  science  does,  and  for 
the  same  reason :  it  is  embodied  in  the  nature 
of  spiritual  substances  and  forms.  It  is  related 
to  the  human  understanding  as  light  to  the 
eye,  as  wholesome  food  to  the  material  body,  as 


118        THE  MIND  FORMED  FOR  TRUTH. 


natural  forces  to  the  senses.  The  power  of 
seeing  the  truth  and  acknowledging  it  to  be 
the  truth,  is  implanted  by  Divine  wisdom  in 
man's  intellectual  faculties  in  the  same  way  that 
the  power  of  distinguishing  between  heat  and 
cold  is  organized  in  the  senses.  When  these 
faculties  are  not  perverted  by  error  and  blinded 
by  evil,  men  recognize  the  truth  when  they  see 
it,  even  though,  for  selfish  and  worldly  reasons, 
they  are  not  willing  to  acknowledge  it. 

THE  NEW  TRUTHS  CAN  BE  UNDERSTOOD. 

The  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  can  be  un- 
derstood, because  they  teach  the  laws  of  the 
Divine  order  in  spiritual  life.  For  this  reason 
they  are  adapted  to  every  capacity.  A  child 
can  gain  some  knowledge  of  their  general 
principles  which  it  will  never  be  necessary  to 
unlearn.  They  are  so  plain  and  simple  "  that 
wayfaring  men,  even  fools"  in  scientific  and 
literary  culture,  need  not  err  therein. 

But  like  all  scientific  truths,  the  more  critically 
and  profoundly  they  are  examined,  the  clearer 
their  truth  becomes.  Every  new  particular 
throws  new  light  upon  them.     The  certainty 


THE  NEW  DOCTRINES  UNIVERSAL  TRUTHS.  119 


that  they  are  a  statement  of  the  laws  of  the 
Divine  order  on  the  spiritual  plane  of  life,  in- 
creases with  every  step  in  their  examination. 
This  is  the  crucial  test  of  the  truth  of  every 
doctrine  or  theory ;  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
New  Church  hear  this  test  without  any  failure. 
This  is  why  I  know  them  to  he  true. 

Finally,  I  am  a  Xew  Churchman  because  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church  are  derived  from 
the  Word  of  the  Lord,  which  is  Divine  truth 
itself,  by  a  perfectly  scientific  system  of  interpre- 
tation, and  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  all  true 
knowledge  of  the  works  of  God.  The  spiritual 
and  the  natural  are  complements  of  each  other, 
and  agree  in  principle  in  every  particular,  except 
that  the  spiritual  is  on  a  distinctly  higher  plane 
of  the  creation  than  the  other.  The  natural  an- 
swers to  the  spiritual,  as  effect  to  cause,  as  body 
to  spirit.  The  Lord  is  the  "Word.  The  Sacred 
Scriptures  are  the  written  "Word,  because  they 
contain  and  reveal  the  laws  of  the  Divine  order. 
The  material  universe  is  the  created  Word,  be- 
cause it  embodies  the  same  laws  in  all  their 
forms  and  forces.  Both  revelations  meet  in  man, 
and  are  the  concordant  expression  of  the  laws  of 


120 


THEY  MAKE  ALL  THINGS  NEW. 


his  physical  and  spiritual  nature,  because  he  was 
made  in  the  image  and  after  the  likeness  of  God. 
The  laws  of  his  own  nature  must  therefore  be 
found  in  both  books,  and  he  can  see  himself  in 
them  as  in  a  perfect  mirror,  as  he  is,  distorted  by 
sin,  and  as  he  may  become  by  regeneration.  He 
can  find  the  Lord  in  His  "Word,  and  can  see  that 
every  truth  revealed  in  it  leads  to  Him,  and  when 
loved  and  lived  conjoins  man  with  Him  in  indis- 
soluble union.  At  every  step  of  his  progress  in 
the  knowledge  of  spiritual  and  Divine  truth  the 
way  becomes  plainer  and  more  assured.  The 
reason  becomes  clearer  and  sees  more  acutely, 
the  understanding  is  enlarged  and  illuminated, 
and  all  the  demands  of  the  affections  are  fully 
met.  We  know  by  blessed  experience  the  truth 
of  the  words,  "  In  Thy  light  shall  we  see  light," 
and  we  find  the  promise  fulfilled  and  constantly 
fulfilling,  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new. 


THE  FAITH  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH. 


i. 

God  is  one  in  essence  and  person. 

"  The  first  of  all  the  commandments  is,  Hear,  0 
Israel;  The  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord:  and 
thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  with  all  thy  soul."    (Mark  xii.  29,  30.) 

"  Hear,  0  Israel :  Jehovah  our  God  is  one 
Jehovah  :  and  thou  shalt  love  Jehovah  thy  God 
with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul."  (Deut. 
vi.  4,  5.) 

"  I  am  Jehovah,  and  there  is  none  else,  there 
is  no  God  besides  me."    (Isa.  xlv.  5.) 

II. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  one  God. 

"  Surely  God  is  in  thee  ;  and  there  is  none  besides, 
no  God  :  Verily  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  Thyself, 
0  God  of  Israel,  The  Saviour."  (Isa.  xlv.  14, 15.) 

"  Am  not  I  Jehovah  ?  and  there  is  no  God  else 
beside  me.  Look  unto  me,  that  ye  may  be  saved, 
all  the  ends  of  the  earth :  for  I  am  God,  and  there 
is  none  else."    (Isa.  xlv.  21,  22.) 

"/  am  Jehovah;  and  beside  me  there  is  no 

F  11  121 


122      THE  FAITH  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH. 


Saviour."  (Isa.  xliii.  11.)  "  I  and  the  Father  are 
one."  (John  x.  30.)  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath 
seen  the  Father."    (John  xiv.  9.) 

III. 

The  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  are  the 
three  essentials  of  one  dlvine  person,  and 
that  person  is  the  lord  jesus  christ. 

The  angel  Gabriel  said  to  Mary,  "  The  Holy 
Spirit  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the 
Highest  shall  overshadow  thee:  therefore  also  that 
holy  thing  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called 
the  Son  of  God."    (Luke  i.  35.) 

When  Jesus  was  baptized,  "Lo,  the  heavens  were 
opened,  and  John  saw  the  Spirit  of  God,  descending 
like  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon  Him. :  and  lo,  a  voice 
from  heaven,  saying,  This  is  my  beloved  Son  in 
whom  lam  well  pleased."    (Matt.  iii.  16,  17.) 

"  Go  ye  therefore  and  teach  all  the  nations,  baptiz- 
ing them  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  (Matt,  xxviii.  19.) 

"  In  Jesus  Christ  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily."    (Col.  ii.  9.) 

IV. 

Man  is  essentially  a  spiritual  being.  He 

HAS  NO  LIFE  IN  HIMSELF.  He  IS  ONLY  AN  OR- 
GANIZED HUMAN  FORM  AS  TO  HIS  SPIRIT  AS  WELL 


THE  FAITH  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  123 

AS  HIS  MATERIAL  BODY,  CAPABLE  OF  RECEIVING 
LIFE  BY  CONSTANT  INFLUX  FROM  THE  LORD. 

"  God  created  man  in  His  own  image,  in  the  image 
of  God  created  He  him,  male  and  female  created  He 
them."    (Gen.  i.  27.) 

"  And  Jehovah  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life;  and  man  became  a  living  soul."    (Gen.  ii.  7.) 

The  whole  of  Sacred  Scripture  implies  that 
man  is  a  moral  and  a  spiritual  heing.  He  is  con- 
stantly regarded  as  a  being  capable  of  knowing 
and  loving,  which  are  essential  spiritual  faculties. 

V. 

The  Sacked  Scripture  is  a  Revelation  of 
tue  Divine  love  and  wisdom,  and  of  the  Lord's 
methods  of  creating,  governing,  saving,  and 
blessing  man.  llke  hlmself,  the  word  is 
Divine  and  human  ;  like  man,  it  is  spiritual 

AND  NATURAL.  It  IS  ADAPTED  TO  EVERY  DEGREE 
AND  SPECIAL  STATE  OF  HUMAN  INTELLIGENCE.  It 

is  the  medium  of  communication  and  conjunc- 
tion between  man  and  the  angels  and  the 
Lord. 

11  In  the  beginning  was  the  "Word,  and  the  "Word 
was  iciih  God,  and  the  Word  was  God."  (John 
i.  L) 

"  Forever,  0  Jehovah,  thy  word  is  settled  in 
heaven"    (Psalm  cxix.  89.) 


124      THE  FAITH  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH. 


"  It  is  the  spirit  that  quickenetk;  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing :  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
spirit,  and  they  are  life."    (John  vi.  63.) 

"  Search  the  Scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye 
have  eternal  life :  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of 
me."    (John  v.  39.) 

"  The  Spirit  of  Jehovah  spake  by  me,  and  His 
word  was  in  my  tongue.'"    (2  Sam.  xxiii.  2.) 

VI. 

Sin  is  a  disease  of  the  natural  degree  of 
man's  spiritual  nature.  Salvation  is  the 
healing  of  this  disease  and  man's  restoration 
to  spiritual  health.  It  is  wholly  effected 
by  the  Lord  while  man  co-operates  with  Him 
by  repentance,  shunning  evils  as  sins  against 
Him;  by  faith  in  Him  and  a  life  according 
to  the  commandments. 

4 '  Bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repen  tance. ' '  (Matt, 
iii.  8.) 

"  /  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  him  that  dieth, 
saith  Jehovah  God:  wherefore  turn,  and  live  ye." 
(Ezek.  xviii.  32.) 

"  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."    (John  xv.  5.) 

"  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  command- 
ments."   (Matt.  xix.  17.) 

"  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life."    (John  iii.  36.) 


THE  FAITH  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  125 


VII. 

The  resurrection  of  man  is  his  withdrawal 
from  the  material  body,  which  is  not  an  essen- 
TIAL PART  OF  him.    This  change  takes  place  at 

THE  DEATH  OF  THE  BODY.  THE  BODY  DIES  BECAUSE 
MAN  LEAVES  IT. 

"  After  two  days  will  he  revive  us."    (Hos.  vi.  2.) 

"  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again. 

"  Martha  saith  unto  Him,  I  know  he  shall  rise 
again  in  the  reswrection  at  the  last  day. 

"  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrection,  and 
the  life."    (John  xi.  23-25.) 

"  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise." 
(Luke  xxiii.  43.) 

"  I saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before 
God."    (Rev.  xx.  12.) 

VIII. 

The  final  judgment  of  man  takes  place  in 
the  "World  of  Spirits,  which  is  intermediate 
between  heaven  and  hell,  and  which  he  first 
enters  after  his  resurrection.  tlie  judgment 
is  effected  by  an  orderly  and  full  develop- 
MENT OF  THE  REAL  CHARACTER.  He  CHOOSES  HIS 
OWN  ASSOCIATES  TO  WHOM  HE  IS  DRAWN  BY  HIS 
RULING  LOVE.  If  HE  IS  EVIL,  HE  IS  DRAWN  TO  THE 
EVIL ;  IF  HE  IS  GOOD,  HE  IS  DRAWN  TO  THE  GOOD, 
11* 


126      THE  FAITH  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH. 


and  associates  with  them.  the  righteous  are 
led  to  heaven  by  their  good  love,  and  the 
wicked  are  drawn  to  hell  by  their  evil  love. 
The  book  of  life,  which  is  man's  ruling  love, 
is  opened,  and  every  oxe  is  judged  by  what 
is  written  in  it. 

"  And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  be- 
fore God;  and  the  books  were  opened;  and  another 
book  loas  opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life :  and  the 
dead  were  judged  out  of  those  things  which  were 
written  in  the  books,  according  to  their  works."  (Rev. 
xx.  12.) 


THE  END. 


Printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 


OF  THE 

REV.  CHAUNCEY  GILES. 


MAN  AS  A  SPIRITUAL  BEING; 

12mo.    Faper,  20  Cents;  Cloth,  30  Cents. 

"The  volume  before  us  is  wholly  Swedenborgian.  We 
think  that  nowhere  can  be  found  a  book  from  which  so  clear 
and  so  condensed  a  view  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  this 
rapidly  growing  church  can  be  obtained." — Historical  Maga- 
zine. 

"  It  adheres  rigidly  to'  the  received  principles  of  Sweden- 
borg's  teachings;  but  it  surrounds  them  with  lucid  illustra- 
tions, clears  up  their  apparent  difficulties,  enforces  their 
logical  application,  and  exhibits  their  practical  scope  and 
bearing  in  a  style  remarkable  for  clearness  of  statement,  as 
well  as  argumentative  force." — New  Fork  Tribune. 


Heavenly  Blessedness  81.25 

On  the  Atonement.    Boards,  20  cents.    Cloth...  .40 
Our  Children  in  the  Other  Life.    Limp  Cloth...  .10 
The  Spiritual  World  (««  Nature  of  Spirit,"  and 
"Our  Children,"  etc.,  bound  in  one  vol- 
ume).  Flexible  30 

The  Second  Coming  of  the  Lord  75 

Human  Stewardship.    Paper  05 

The  Forgiveness  of  Sio  50 

Why  I  am  a  New-Churchman.    Paper,  10  cents. 

Cloth  25 


THE  TRUE  AND  THE  FALSE  THEORY 

EVOLUTION. 

BY  REV.  CHAUNCEY  GILES. 


12mo.       Paper,   15    Cents.       Cloth,    SO  Cents. 


"  Williams  College,  May  13,  1887. 

"  Eev.  Chauncey  Giles  : 

"  My  dear  Sir, — It  is  seldom  in  these  days  that  I  read  a  hook 
through,  but  I  have  yours,  with  much  pleasure  and  profit.  I  do 
not  see  how  your  view  could  be  better  presented.  You  draw 
the  distinction  clearly  between  theistic  and  atheistic  evolution, 
and  your  whole  scheme  is  logical  and  consistent.  Your  book 
is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  literature  of  this  subject." — From 
President  Mark  Hopkins. 

"An  admirable  little  treatise.  "Will  hold  its  own  in  the 
now  extensive  library  of  books  upon  this  subject." — Boston 
Advertiser. 

"An  admirable  treatise." — Public  Opinion. 

"  The  book  is  a  careful,  earnest,  conscientious  attempt  to 
reconcile  the  truths  of  revelation  to  the  truths  of  science." — 
Wheeling  Register. 

"  The  conclusion  to  which  the  argument  leads  up  is  that  the 
universe  is  warm  with  a  divine  love,  bright  with  a  divine  wis- 
dom ;  it  is  moved  by  a  divine  hand,  and  animated  with  a 
divine  life."— Commercial  Gazette,  Gin. 

"  In  a  literary  sense  this  little  treatise  has  the  polish  of  a 
gem. ' ' — Philadelph  ia  Bulletin. 

"Since  the  publication  of  Prof.  Huxley's  Six  Lectures,  in 
18G.3,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  more  important  contribution 
toward  an  understanding  of.  what  is  true  and  valuable  in  tin; 
theory  of  Evolution  has  appeared.  If  I  were  shut  up  to  the 
choice  of  three  hooks  on  the  subject  they  should  be  Darwin's 
'Origin  of  Species,'  Huxley's  'Six  Lectures,'  and  Chaun- 
cey  Giles's  '  True  and  False  Theory  of  Evolution.'  The  book 
ought  to  be  introducd  into  every  theological  school  in  the 
land.  " — Herald  of  Gospel  Liberty. 

Will  be  sent  by  mail  on  receipt  of  the  price. 

For  Sale  by  WM.  H.  ALTDEN,  Agent, 

2129  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia. 


DATE  DUE 




toUSA 

HIGHSMITH  #45230 


